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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252712">Girl's Night Out</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FancyFree2813/pseuds/FancyFree2813'>FancyFree2813</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Layers (originally named The Goofy Mountie Series [20]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>due South</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Injury, F/M, Language, Major Character Injury, Non-Canonical Character Death, Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:22:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>24,494</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FancyFree2813/pseuds/FancyFree2813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Renfield is released from the hospital and Kerri throws a huge welcome home surprise party. Feeling smothered by Kerri Renfield asks Meg to plan a girl's night out that begins with a bank robbery gone horribly wrong.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Benton Fraser/Margaret Thatcher, Ray Kowalski/Other, Renfield Turnbull/Kerri, Thomas Dewey/Francesca Vecchio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Layers (originally named The Goofy Mountie Series [20]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954873</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Girl's Night Out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Renfield was finally coming home. It had been well over two weeks since the day he had been poisoned by a staple on a piece of mail addressed to Constable Fraser. Immediately upon regaining consciousness he had started asking to be released from the hospital. But it had been several days and a couple of rather troublesome complications before his doctors finally pronounced him well enough to be released.</p><p>About three days before he finally received the good news, Kerri had a marvelous idea. She had to smile when she thought of it, since Renfield was the ‘marvelous idea master’ of the family. But so many people had been so terribly concerned about him, and so many children needed to be reassured that Mister Mountie was okay, that she decided to throw Renfield a surprise welcome home party.</p><p>But before she began preparations she knew she must speak with all the neighbors and enlist their help. Together they planned a huge neighborhood barbecue for the next Saturday. She also spoke with a large group of children that she found playing baseball on the vacant lot that same afternoon.</p><p>“You know Mister Mountie has been very sick,” the words brought tears to her eyes. “Well, he is going to be coming home soon and I want to have a party for him.” She had to wait until the excited children calmed down before she could continue.</p><p>“Yeah, I know it will be a lot of fun, but you need to listen to me. He will still be very weak and he won’t be able to play with you. Oh, I know he will want to, but you all have to promise me that you will not let him overdo it. Will you all promise?”</p><p>A chorus of “Sure” “Yeah” and “Yes, Ma’am” allowed her to relax considerably. “Thanks, guys.” As she turned to leave she remembered one last thing, “oh, and could you make sure you’re folks don’t ask him to play ball or anything, too?”</p><p>The children got a real kick out of knowing they needed to give their parents orders and would take Mrs. Turnbull’s request very seriously.</p><p>All the neighbors agreed to bring food, tables and whatever else they could think of and set up in the alley. On the day of his return they determined that the alley would not hold all the picnic tables and people sitting at them, so they spread out to as close to the ball field as they dared.</p><p>Hansen, the dry cleaner, rented a monster barbecue that they put at the east end of the alley, downwind of the partygoers. Even with a fairly stiff breeze blowing, smoke from the grilling hamburgers and hot dogs shouldn’t be too much of a problem.</p><p>Fraser and Vecchio hung paper lanterns against the back wall of the bookshop, strung them across the alley and tied them to the light pole on the opposite side, creating a triangle of multi-colored lights that would look very nice come dusk.</p><p>The plan was for everyone to stay outside and for Renfield to be brought in through the front of the shop. Kerri wanted to surprise him of course, but she didn’t want to shock him too much, she was still very worried about his condition.</p><p>Kerri and Fraser left to pick up Renfield just as several neighbors were arriving to help set up.</p><p>“You’ll probably want to take the food upstairs to keep it out of the sun,” she spoke to no one in particular. “I’ve got about a ton of hamburger meat in the frig and I’ll make the hamburger patties when we get back.” She looked around the area briefly and smiled. “If you hang the banner across the alley over the lanterns, that will be enough of a surprise. It won’t be necessary to yell ‘surprise’. I don’t want him too startled.”</p><p>The banner in question was created by several children who spent one entire summer afternoon in the bookshop’s reading room with a huge roll of newsprint and countless colors of crayons. The finished product read ‘Welcome home Mister Mountie – we love you’. Everyone, especially Kerri, loved the banner, because she knew just how touched Renfield would be.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Kerri said very little on the trip to the hospital, and Fraser could tell she was worried about something.</p><p>“Are you still concerned about Renfield?” he finally asked.</p><p>“I didn’t make a mistake by doing this, did I? Maybe he’s not up to a party yet, he just still looks so pale and thin.”</p><p>“Kerri, you are going to make yourself sick worrying about him,” he sighed. “I know you were terrified that you would lose him, but you need to, as Ray would say, lighten up.”</p><p>Kerri was silent for several moments and Fraser began to think he had hurt her feelings. He was about to apologize when Kerri finally spoke up. “Terrified is not a word that even comes close to describing how I felt,” she sighed. “I don’t know how to put it into words, it’s so hard to understand, but I knew that if Renfield died I would die too. And I would have welcomed it. Does that make any sense?”</p><p>Fraser sighed. “It’s beginning to, yes.”</p><p>Kerri looked at him sideways as he pulled into an empty space in the hospital parking lot, for the moment completely forgetting about Renfield. “You and Meg are working out your problems, aren’t you?” In all the time Kerri had known Benton she had never seen him grin, until this very moment.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Just yes? No elaboration?” she teased. Knowing he would never tell her, she had to needle him just a little more. “Come on, tell me the juicy details.” He blushed deep pink and turned his head so she couldn’t see his face. “Oh, my!” she giggled as she watched his blush creep around to the back of his neck. “That good, huh?”</p><p>Kerri continued to smile at Fraser until they entered Renfield’s room. Seeing him sitting by the window caused her smile to fade away. Catching him in an unguarded moment Renfield looked very frail. She immediately began to rethink her party plans.</p><p>Sensing her discomfort Fraser quickly announced their presence. “Constable, you’re certainly looking well enough to go home today.”</p><p>Renfield turned and immediately grinned at them. “Yes Sir! Ready and waiting.” He cringed slightly as he stood. His doctor had told them to expect that he would continue to experience muscle pain for several days. The doctor’s instructions to them included several do’s: continued bed rest, a specific diet etc, etc, and several don’ts: no unnecessary exertion, no work for another week, and very limited intimacy with Kerri, etc. etc. etc. (Some of the don’ts would obviously be easier to comply with than others.)</p><p>Renfield cringed again as Kerri insisted that he needed a wheelchair to be taken to the car. When Fraser left to pull the car around, Renfield spoke up. “Kerri, please don’t worry about me so much? I’m feeling very well, really.”</p><p>But he didn’t look well. He was pale and thin and had dark circles under his eyes. Kerri thought seriously about calling Paige and having her send everyone home.</p><p>“You look very tired, Renny.”</p><p>“I’m just anxious to get home. Hospitals are no place to try to get well!” he joked. “I’m anxious to see the children and reassure them that I’m going to be okay, anxious to sleep in my own bed,” he put his arms around her waist, “and anxious to be alone with you.”</p><p>“Whoa, hold it right there. You know I’m on your list of don’ts. Being alone with me, at least the way you’re hoping, is going to have to wait until after your next checkup. For the next little while just think of me as your platonic cuddle bunny.”</p><p>Renfield pouted as he backed away from her and turned serious. “I know you’ve been very worried about me, but I am feeling much better, seriously. Just thinking about going home has made me feel one hundred percent again.”</p><p>Thoughts of canceling the party began to diminish as she watched his face. Maybe being home, surrounded by his friends was exactly what he needed. At least she hoped it was.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Renfield had never been so glad to see anything in his entire life. He’d only been gone a few days, but it seemed like forever since he had seen the familiar façade of his lovely bookshop home.</p><p>“The street seems awfully deserted for this time of day,” he commented. “I was hoping someone might stop by to say hello.” They could hear just a touch of disappointment in his voice, but Fraser smiled at Kerri behind his back as Renfield made it slowly through the bookshop, toward the stairs that led to their apartment.</p><p>“Uh, Renny, before you go upstairs, could you come and look in the alley, please?”</p><p>Kerri stepped aside and allowed Renfield to reach for the doorknob. When he opened the door and looked into the alley, Renfield got the surprise of his life. All their party preparations completed, his neighbors and friends were there just waiting for him to walk through the door.</p><p>Renfield staggered just slightly but Kerri was right there, standing behind him, ready to support him if needed. But he didn’t need her physical support. Right now he did need a little emotional support, however. As soon as he saw all the children standing under the banner they had made for him, Renfield could not control his tears.</p><p>Turning him away from the smiling crowd, Kerri hugged him tightly, and slipped a tissue into his hand. “I didn’t mean to completely overwhelm you, you know? Everyone just wanted to see you, and I thought a little while with them might be good for you.” She allowed him to wipe his tears, unseen by anyone else, and then softly pushed him away.</p><p>She watched as he made his way slowly through their friends, shaking hands and receiving countless pats on the back. She watched as he began to stand a little straighter and move a little more fluidly.</p><p>Yep, she thought, this was the right thing to do. This is something he really needed.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Tom Dewey walked up behind her as Kerri stood at the kitchen sink, staring out the window. He could tell she was watching the activities on the vacant lot below, and from the way she was smiling could also tell that she must be looking directly at Turnbull. To say that those two were crazy in love would be an understatement.</p><p>He stood next to her and looked in the same direction. He could see Turnbull, sitting on the sidelines, giving a pep talk to scores of children. As he watched the children started to yell and ran on to the field.</p><p>Kerri turned to Tom. “I'm glad you could come, Tom.” She grinned slyly at him. “Did you come with Francesca?”</p><p>“Yeah, well, she kinda needed a ride. So I just kinda gave her a lift.”</p><p>“Yeah, right,” she muttered. “Why don't you go on down and join her? I know Renfield would like to see you, and I’m sure they could use another adult on one of the ball teams. Renfield is not quite up to playing with them yet, but he is going to help Benton barbecue these hamburgers, if I ever get these patties finished.”</p><p>“I just kinda wanted, ya know, say thanks for invitin’ me. I haven’t always, ya know, been, uh, nice ta Turnbull.”</p><p>“Yeah, well people can change their minds,” was all she said.</p><p>Tom watched as several boys ran up to Turnbull, panted a few animated words and were slapped on the butt and sent back to the field.  Apparently these kids thought that the word of Mister Mountie was akin to the Word of God. “Now there’s a guy who needs kids of his own,” he laughed. “When you guys gonna get busy ‘n start raising your own baseball team? Seems to me that Turnbull’d be happy with about, oh, nine or so.”</p><p>Kerri was peeling an onion over the sink when the knife suddenly dropped from her hand with a loud clatter onto the enamel surface.</p><p>“Dewey, get the hell outta here ‘n go play with the other kids,” Ray yelled from the doorway.</p><p>Tom wasn’t sure what he had done, but he could tell from the scowl from Kowalski that he’d better not argue. He left the kitchen without a word.</p><p>Ray came to stand, shoulder to shoulder, next to Kerri and followed her gaze out the window. He tried to ignore it when she quickly brushed a tear from her cheek.</p><p>“Onions,” she explained. “They always make me cry.”</p><p>“Me too,” he whispered. “Ya know he didn’t mean anythin’ by that crack. He doesn’t know –”</p><p>“I know,” she sighed as she wiped another errant tear from her cheek. “Sometimes remarks like that just catch me unawares. I have to learn not to be so sensitive, I guess.”</p><p>“It’s gotta be kinda hard not ta be sensitive.” He gently slipped his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry, ya know?”</p><p>She reached up and patted his hand resting on her shoulder. “You know you are a really good friend.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, sometimes it’s kinda tough, specially when ya smell like onions,” he chuckled softly. “But most a the time it’s pretty easy likin’ you guys. Ya want me ta punch Dewey for ya?”</p><p>Neither one of them had taken their eyes off Turnbull, who was still surrounded by a constantly changing crowd of children. </p><p>“No, he didn’t mean any harm, I know that.” They both watched as Mere climbed into Mister Mountie’s lap and hugged him. Kerri hung her head. “I just wish I could –”</p><p>Ray squeezed her shoulder. “I know ya do, honey. I know ya do.”<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Ray carried a platter loaded with hamburger patties and hot dogs down the stairs. He made his way toward the barbecue that Hansen had rented, through the hoards of people that had come out to celebrate spring, and the triumphant return of Mister Mountie. Of course, he thought, free food did a lot to increase the size of the crowd, too. But, he had to admit that most of these people were Turnbull and Kerri’s friends. These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who knew them that didn’t like them, with the exception of Turnbull’s mother, of course. Ray shuddered as he thought of that woman.</p><p>As he set the plate on the table next to the barbecue, someone came up behind him and threaded two slender arms around his waist. “I don’t know which I want more, you or food,” Paige whispered in his ear.</p><p>“Unless ya wanna go back inside, yer prob’ly gonna have ta wait for both,” Ray frowned.</p><p>“Hey! What’s wrong with you? Smile. It’s a great day. We’ve got a lot of food, friends and sunshine,” she teased. When he continued to frown, she grew serious too. “Ray? What's wrong?”</p><p>He looked toward Turnbull’s kitchen window. “That jerk Dewey said sumpthin’ that upset Kerri. I’m just worried bout her.”</p><p>Paige frowned at the thought of Kerri once again occupying Ray’s mind. She followed his gaze toward the second floor. “What did he say?”</p><p>“He didn’t know what he was sayin’, but he’s still a jerk,” Ray sighed.</p><p>“Tell me what he said?” she asked again.</p><p>Ray took her hand and led her away from the crowd of people, to the far corner of the building. He ran his hand through his hair and twitched uncomfortably. “Not a whole bunch a people know about this, so don’t tell anybody, okay?” Ray waited for her to nod her head before he continued. “Before they got married Kerri worked for the RCMP. She was some kinda finance sumthin’ or other. She traveled all over the place, Canada and the US. That’s how Turnbull met her. Anyway, she was traveling all over ‘n tryin ta get back here as often as she could. She uncovered this big embezzlement scam in Seattle, but she was workin’ so hard she made herself sick. She came back ta visit one weekend ‘n ended up in the hospital. She had a miscarriage.”</p><p>Paige wanted to slap herself for once again being jealous of Kerri. “Oh, God, poor Kerri!” Paige whispered.</p><p>“But that’s not the worst part. She had ta have emergency surgery. She can’t ever have kids.”</p><p>Paige was horrified. She had seen Kerri interact with Mere and the other children that came to the bookshop. And she had seen how Renfield loved every child he met. What a cruel act of fate for them to not be able to have children of their own. Paige began to cry.</p><p>“Aw, honey, I didn’t mean ta make ya cry.” He took her in his arms. </p><p>“I’m just so sorry for her, and for Renfield.” She sniffed and pulled away. “I don’t know what I’d do, or where I’d be, if I didn’t have Mere.”</p><p>“The munchkin sure makes life interestin’,” Ray smiled. “Ya think maybe ya could go up there and just kinda keep her company? I think maybe another woman might make her feel a little better.”</p><p>“Of course! She probably needs some more help anyway.”</p><p>Ray hugged her again and held on a little longer. Just long enough for Ray Vecchio to come around the corner, carrying a larger cooler. “God, Kowalski, get a room!” he teased as he passed.</p><p>“Hey! If ya got it, flaunt it!” Ray yelled back as Paige giggled and blushed.</p><p>“I wish,” Vecchio muttered under his breath.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>“Hey, you need any help?” Paige asked as she walked into the kitchen. Kerri was bent over, pulling huge loaves of French bread out of the oven, and even though she tried, Paige could not see her face.</p><p>When Kerri straightened up Paige could finally see her face, flushed bright pink from the heat of the oven, and eyes bright with tears. “Yeah, I could really use a bunch of help. Could you get Ray and some of the others to carry all this stuff downstairs?” She waved her hand toward a counter laden with all types of salads, baked beans, breads and desserts. “I had everyone bring their stuff up here to keep it out of the sun, but now it’s all got to go outside.” She took a deep breath. “Don’t let Renny help, though. He likes people to think he’s back to his old self, but he’s not quite ready for several trips up and down those stairs.”</p><p>Even though Kerri avoided looking directly at Paige, Paige could tell she’d been crying. “Are you okay?” she whispered.</p><p>“Sure. Just feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment.”</p><p>“Ray told me about what Tom said.”</p><p>Kerri sighed and turned to look out the window again. “I wish he hadn’t burdened you with my problems.”</p><p>“He was just worried about you. He really cares about you, you know.” Paige frowned slightly. “In fact, if I didn’t know how much you loved Renfield, I'd…”</p><p>Kerri looked at Paige and chuckled. “I don’t think you’ve got a thing to worry about, I’ve seen the way Ray looks at you. Renny called him goofy the other day.” Kerri’s smile grew even bigger. “Actually, now that I think about it, he called both of you goofy!”</p><p>Both women laughed, and Kerri realized she was feeling much better. “If Ray sent you up here to cheer me up, it worked. Thanks.” Her smile dimmed just slightly. “He’s been a really good friend to both of us. Right after I lost the baby I wouldn’t even see Renny. Ray watched him like a hawk, trying to keep him from falling apart, while still honoring a promise to me not to tell Renny where I was. Renny and I wasted a lot of time thinking that by sacrificing ourselves we were protecting each other.” Kerri chuckled again. “And Ray was just there, doing whatever he could. And he still is!”</p><p>“He never told me any of this. Mister Macho Man can be kind of a sweetheart, when he wants to be.”</p><p>“He’s been really lonely for a long time. I’m really glad the two of you got together, it’s done him a world of good.”</p><p>“Not to mention what it’s done for me!” Paige laughed again as she loaded up a huge bowl of potato salad and one loaf of hot French bread into her arms, her tiny bout with jealousy completely forgotten. “I’ll send up some others to get the rest of this,” she called as she started down the stairs. “You hurry up and get down there, too. It’s too nice a day to be spending it in the kitchen.”</p><p>Kerri stared out the window at Renfield. She frowned as she watched him stand up. He was still moving rather slowly, and she could tell he was still suffering from the muscle stiffness the doctor had warned them about. When he moved to pick up a bat she knew she’d have to get down there very quickly. She was not about to let him play ball, not yet, not even if she had to sit on him to keep him out of the game.</p><p>Kerri, Paige, Frannie and Meg, along with several of the Turnbull’s neighbors, spread the huge amount of food out on the Desome’s picnic tables as Renfield and Fraser cooked about a million hamburgers and hot dogs. </p><p>A steady breeze threatened to blow the red checkered tablecloths off the other tables before anyone had a chance to get their food and sit down, but it also served to keep the burger chefs fairly cool.</p><p>Renfield had only been standing at the barbecue a short time when Ray Vecchio decided he needed to be relieved. “Hey, Turnbull, why don’t you let me have a chance to flip those burgers?” he asked.</p><p>“I really don’t mind, Ray. I rather enjoy doing this.”</p><p>“Yeah, but your wife’s never gonna sit down until you do, and she looks like she could use a rest.” That wasn’t precisely the truth, but apparently it worked.</p><p>Renfield was mortified that he hadn’t realized that Kerri was overdoing it, again. He hurriedly shoved the long handled spatula at Vecchio, snatched off his ‘kiss the cook’ apron and rushed off to find Kerri.</p><p>“Well done, Ray,” Fraser smiled at his friend. “Turnbull seemed to be wearing down rather rapidly, even if he would never have admitted it.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, I couldn’t let him have all the fun, now could I? I seem to be the only one here without a date,” he sighed. “If you wanna go find Meg, I can handle this alone.”</p><p>To Vecchio's total surprise Fraser took him up on his offer. “I appreciate that, Ray!” and with that he was gone in search of Thatcher.</p><p>“Someday, when I find myself a lady, these guys are gonna owe me big time,” he grumbled as he yanked a hot dog off the grill and shoved it at yet another hungry kid.</p><p>“Whaddya say, Mister?”</p><p>“Nothing, kid! Go eat your lunch!” he growled.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>It was just beginning to grow dark before the last of the food was cleared away and the serving dishes washed and given back to their rightful owners. Everyone had insisted that Kerri sit with Renfield and enjoy the warm evening air. She had done all the preparation, now it was someone else’s turn to clean up.</p><p>The paper lanterns that Fraser and Vecchio had hung were just beginning to cast a colorful glow as Kerri came to sit next to her husband. She placed her hand gently on his much larger one, being careful not to put too much pressure on the spot where the IV had been removed. “Nice party, huh?” she smiled.</p><p>“And quite a surprise!”</p><p>Kerri chuckled. “Well, it’s about time! You’ve certainly surprised me enough since we’ve known each other.” She rested her head on his shoulder and tightened her grip on his hand just slightly, as if to ensure that he really was with her. “I missed you so much.”</p><p>“Me too,” he muttered.</p><p>“Are you okay? If you’re tired we could go in. I know no one would object.”</p><p>“Oh, no! I’m loving every minute of this. I’m just a little tired,” he admitted.</p><p>It worried Kerri that Renfield would actually admit to feeling less than perfect. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather just rest upstairs?”</p><p>He withdrew his hand from hers and put his arm around her shoulders. He drew her close and reveled in the warmth of her body against his. “I promise that I will let you know when I get too tired. Please, don’t worry?”</p><p>Renfield had absolutely no concept of just how worried Kerri was, and she wasn’t about to let him know. “Promise?”</p><p>They sat there, on the picnic bench, their backs resting against the table, for quite awhile. They watched assorted children and adults playing baseball on the field that Renfield and the children had so lovingly prepared. They snickered at the out of shape fathers trying their best to keep up with the fairly physically fit cops, and with the children that had energy to burn. Renfield knew that there would be a lot of sore muscles tomorrow, and they would not just be his.</p><p>Finally, in the growing darkness, families prepared to head home. One of the last people to leave was Tom Dewey. Kerri was vaguely aware that he had been avoiding her all day, and felt it was probably for the best. She had been rather rude to him but she really didn’t want to explain why.</p><p>When she saw Tom approaching she assumed he had something to say to Renfield. She rose to leave and was surprised when he spoke to her. “This’s been a really great party,” he said slapping the dust off the seat of his jeans. Apparently no one had ever taught the man how to slide into second base. “Thanks for invitin’ me.”</p><p>“Constable Fraser told me that you were instrumental in finding the antidote for the poison. Thank you,” Renfield responded.</p><p>“Yeah, well, it was nothin’. Kerri,” Tom asked shyly, “do ya think I could talk to ya for a second?”</p><p>“Of course, Tom.”</p><p>“Uh, privately? Okay?”</p><p>Renfield stared at them intently as they walked away.</p><p>“I wanna apologize for what I said before," he said as they came to the far corner of the bookshop. He nervously picked at the brick wall with a fingernail before he continued, “I didn’t know. I told Frannie what I’d said and I thought she was gonna kick me. I’m sorry, I know how it must feel –” He didn’t finish the thought, before he was on to another one. “Ya see, when my sis was twenty she had cervical cancer. It was really tough, she’d only been married ‘bout six months when she found out. She beat it,” he sighed, “but I watched her ‘n my brother-in-law struggle knowin that they’d never have kids.” He looked directly at Kerri. “That’s not something I’d ever joke about.”</p><p>“Is she okay now?”</p><p>“Cancer came back. She died when she was twenty-four. That was ten years ago.”</p><p>“I'm sorry, Tom. There’s just some things about life that aren’t fair, I guess.” She exhaled deeply. “Thanks for telling me. It helps to know that someone understands.”</p><p>“I gotta go, I just wanted ta let ya know I didn’t mean ta hurt your feelings.”</p><p>“I knew that all along, but thanks.”</p><p>Tom had only walked a few feet away when Francesca intercepted him. “That was nice,” she smiled. “I’m sorry ‘bout your sister.”</p><p>“You were listenin’? That was private!” He frowned. “But thanks for, ya know, carin ‘n stuff.”</p><p>“I was just pertectin my rep. I didn’t want Kerri thinkin I was some kinda gossip or sumthin’.”</p><p>“Hey, your rep’s safe with me,” Tom laughed and jumped away as Frannie landed a solid punch on his upper arm. “Good shot,” he muttered as he rubbed the sore spot where her fist had impacted his flesh.</p><p>“I’m not a Vecchio for nuthin’!”</p><p>Kerri watched as he walked away and watched as Francesca joined him. The body language between the two peaked her curiosity, but what really got her attention was Renfield. He was staring at Tom and Francesca with the strangest look on his face. It was a look that she knew all too well.</p><p>“Oh, good Lord!” she muttered. “Not again!”<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>“Good morning, Constable! Welcome back.” Meg tried to be as cordial as possible to the young man, remembering all too well how rude she had been to him right before he had been poisoned.</p><p>In the week since the welcome home party, Meg had not had the time to visit with Kerri and Turnbull.  The changes she now saw were remarkable. Aside from the still noticeable weight loss, Turnbull looked great, and she didn’t hesitate to tell him so.</p><p>“Kerri has obviously been taking very good care of you, Constable. You’re looking very well.” She grinned at him, surprised at how glad she was to have him back. Then again, she was happy about most things since she had decided to stay in Chicago, but more importantly, decided to stay with Ben.</p><p>Meg may have been grinning at him, but he was not smiling in return. “Could I speak to you regarding a personal matter, Ma’am?”</p><p>His tone of voice caused her smile to instantly vanish. “Of course, would you like to come into my office?” The entrance hall seemed woefully inadequate for his seriousness.</p><p>Meg proceeded ahead of him and sat behind her desk, her administrator/senior officer face firmly in place. He stood at attention in front of her, as he had done countless times before. The last time, of course, being the day he had collapsed. “Please, take a seat, Constable.”</p><p>As he turned to be seated, the fleeting image of him lying on the floor passed through Meg’s mind’s eye. She remembered all too clearly how terrified she had been that he might die. In the short span of just over twenty-four hours she had come to realize just how important both of her Constables were to her. If Renfield hadn’t fallen ill she might have left Chicago – well, she just wouldn’t think of that now.</p><p>“Ma’am?” he interrupted her thoughts. “I was going to ask you a favor.”</p><p>“Sorry, Renfield, I was daydreaming. Please, what favor can I do for you?”</p><p>He cleared his throat and fidgeted in his chair for a moment, causing Meg to wonder what sort of monumental request he was going to make. </p><p>“I’d like for you to ask Kerri to go out for an evening with you. A ladies night out, as it were.”</p><p>Meg came within a heartbeat of blurting out ‘is that all’, before she saw the serious look on his face. She stopped herself just in the nick of time. “I don’t understand?” was all she could come up with to say.</p><p>“You know how she obsesses about things. She’s about to work herself to death, and drive me to distraction, fussing over me.”</p><p>“Renfield, she was very worried about you. She almost lost you, and it really scared her!”</p><p>“Oh, no! Please don’t misunderstand, I am very grateful for the attention,” he hurried to explain, almost coming out of his chair. “It’s just that she needs a rest. I wake up during the night,” he blushed and hung his head, “and she’s already awake, just watching me sleep, making sure I’m comfortable. She rarely lets me do anything for myself, with the possible exception of, uh, er –”</p><p>Meg smiled as he blushed. Only Turnbull and Fraser blushed that particular, endearing shade of pink. “I get the picture, so to speak, Constable. And I see why you would like for Kerri to get out for an evening. How about if I give her a call, and maybe we can go out for dinner and a movie next Friday night?”</p><p>“Detective Kowalski told me that Paige’s birthday is next week,” he offered, “and I’m sure that Kerri wouldn’t decline an invitation to celebrate.”</p><p>Meg smirked at him. “Planning people’s fate again, Constable?”</p><p>Renfield was shocked. “Oh no, Sir! I –”</p><p>“Renfield,” Meg held up her hand as she interrupted, “you seem to have an uncanny knack of knowing exactly what, or more precisely who, people need.” She sighed and then smiled. “I’ve never said thank you, have I?”</p><p>Renfield stood up and the ever-present, slightly clueless look in his eyes vanished momentarily. “You’re welcome, Sir.”<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>“I really don’t think I should, Meg. Renfield will have only been back to work for a week, and I don’t think I should be leaving him alone quite yet.” Kerri was truly sorry, Meg’s call reminded her how much she would have liked to go to dinner. She’d heard that Mama Mia! was a wonderful play, but Renfield always came first.</p><p>“Kerri, I heard that Paige’s birthday is next week. I think it would be nice to do something special for her, I’ll bet that she hasn’t really celebrated her birthday in a very long time.”</p><p>Kerri was tempted to offer to have a party at their apartment, but she still hadn’t fully recuperated from the last one. “I don’t know, Renfield –”</p><p>“–will be fine. He’ll be just fine.” Meg reluctantly played her trump card. “I’ll even invite,” she crinkled up her nose before she could continue, “Francesca Vecchio.”</p><p>Kerri laughed. “You must really want to do this! You can barely stand to be in the same room with Francesca.”</p><p>“Well, she does have a few redeeming qualities,” though, at this precise moment, Meg couldn’t think of one, “and I know she and Paige have become friendly since Paige got together with Ray.”</p><p>Kerri hesitated for several moments. Renny was getting better, and it would only be for a few hours, and she really would like to see that play, and she hadn’t had a girl’s night out in months…  “Okay, it’s a date.”</p><p>Meg hung up with a huge smile on her face. Doing something nice for Renfield and Kerri felt very pleasant.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Meg was correct when she had assumed that Paige had not celebrated a birthday in many, many years. Her first birthday after she married Roger had been a disaster. Hoping he would enjoy a candlelit dinner at home, she had sat patiently until the candles were nothing more that melted globs of wax before she had given up waiting for him. He hadn’t come home at all that night. By the next year she had given up waiting for him on any night, least of all her birthday.</p><p>Today might not have been the exact anniversary of her birth, but when Meg had said they wanted to observe her birthday, Paige had been honored, and thrilled. Dinner and a play were a luxury that she rarely afforded herself. Even though money was no longer as tight as it once had been, given the interest she received from Mere’s trust fund, she still spent very little on herself.</p><p>As she pulled her new dress off its plastic hanger, she marveled in the happiness she now received from the simple things. Just a simple, little black jersey dress that she and Frannie had had so much fun shopping for, and it made her feel like a princess.</p><p>She slowly slid the dress over her head, carefully avoiding messing up her hair. Frannie had helped her pull it back into a French knot, and she really didn’t want to ruin the effect. It really looked rather good, if she did say so herself.</p><p>She frowned at her reflection in her grandmother’s antique Cheval mirror. She’d lost quite a bit of weight while she and Mere were on the run from Roger, and even more when she’d gone back to California with the DEA agents. But the dress accentuated her figure, it tucked and cupped in all the right places, and when she tied the long, black lace scarf around her neck and hung it over the scoop neck of the dress, she nodded at her reflection. ‘Not bad,’ she thought, ‘not too bad.’</p><p>She had always secretly thought that she had nice, long legs, and the new sheer black nylons and short skirt enhanced their length even more. When she put on her black Gucci pumps, the only thing she was wearing actually left over from the ‘old days’, she thought she made a rather presentable picture. After a few extra strokes with the mascara wand, and a little more blush on her cheeks, she was finally ready to go.</p><p>“Gee, Mommy, you look real pretty!” Mere called from the doorway. “Are we ready to go? I wanna see Ray!” The little girl danced up and down in anticipation of spending the evening with Ray and Mister Mountie, her two favorite people, next to her Mommy, of course.</p><p>“Do you really think I look pretty?” Paige smiled at her daughter from their reflection in the mirror. This glass had reflected some pretty bad times, but Paige knew that those days were now behind her.</p><p>“Yep. Let’s goooo!” Mere grabbed her mother’s hand and pulled her out of their apartment.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Frannie had never owned anything quite so conservative, if you could call what she was wearing conservative. Paige had talked her into it on their shopping trip to the mall. Frannie smiled at the memory. She loved to shop and rarely needed an excuse, but when Meg Thatcher had called and invited her to go with them to dinner and a play, Frannie knew she would have to have something new to wear. She knew that Thatcher didn’t approve of her, and Frannie was determined to prove her wrong, with Paige’s help.</p><p>“She doesn’t like me much, ya know?” Frannie explained to Paige as she searched for a parking place in the mall’s parking structure. “See, I used ta have this kinda crunch on Benton.”</p><p>Paige looked at her sideways. “You mean crush?”</p><p>“Yeah. Anyway, I got over that. But she doesn’t like my style, so I was thinkin’ I should get sumthin’ different ta wear that’ll knock her socks off.”</p><p>“Frannie, you shouldn’t change yourself just because you’re trying to impress someone. You’re just fine the way you are!”</p><p>Frannie smiled at her friend. She had liked Paige instantly. She and Paige were just about the same age, and they seemed to see things the same way. She just loved Paige’s kid, and when she and Ray got together, well, Frannie still thought of Kowalski as her brother, so she guessed that made Paige pretty close to a sister.</p><p>“I know, but I want sumthin’ elegant. Sumthin’ that’ll turn heads.” They found it at a small boutique at the extreme north end of the mall. ‘It’ consisted of a royal blue velvet dirndl skirt and matching bolero jacket. The skirt was longer than any other that she owned, but still fell well above her knees, and the jacket was trimmed in cording that was the exact same royal blue color. Under the jacket she wore a plain pale blue silk shirt. She completed the ensemble with several silver bangle bracelets, silver dangle earrings and dark blue high-heeled sandals.</p><p>Feeling rather plain in this outfit she added just a little more eye shadow and lipstick. She studied herself in the bathroom mirror briefly before she decided to put herself to the acid test – her mother and brother.</p><p>Frannie stood in the doorway to the kitchen waiting from either one of them to notice her. Her mother was standing at the kitchen sink, peeling potatoes, as Ray sat at the table, hidden behind the evening paper.</p><p>Finally Frannie stomped her foot. “Well?”</p><p>Her mother turned from the sink and, as she saw her daughter, grinned like the proud mother she was. “Oh my! You look very nice!”</p><p>Ray, irritated at the interruption, slowly looked around the side of his paper. As soon as he saw his sister, he put the paper down in a rush and whistled. “Now that’s what I call one pretty lady!”</p><p>“You’re not just puttin’ me on, right?” Frannie could never be sure he wasn’t teasing her. “I wanna be sure, okay?”</p><p>“Hey, I don’t compliment much, but that outfit deserves it. You really do look great.” Ray laughed, “ya sure there’s no guys going to this thing? I’ve never seen you dress up like that for just a bunch of women! If this wasn’t my day off, and I wasn’t so busy with all this relaxing, I’d even offer to go along.”</p><p>“Gee, yer so funny I forgot ta laugh!” Frannie teased.</p><p>“Francesca, you look lovely.” She had never understood why her beautiful daughter could be so insecure. “You will outshine every other woman there. Enjoy the play.”<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Meg left work early that day. The tickets for Mama Mia! at the Cadillac Palace had been hard to get, but reservations at the Chicago Chop House were impossible. The only time they had available for a party of four was at 5:15.</p><p>She left Fraser in charge, having allowed Turnbull to also leave early. He and Ray were planning on babysitting Mere. She smiled to herself, or was that the other way around? She felt her smile slip just slightly as she thought of Renfield. She was glad she had an excuse to allow him to leave early, he was looking rather tired. That was to be expected, she supposed, it was the end of his first full week of work, and only barely a month since he’d been poisoned. He would have never admitted it, but Meg was fairly sure that he was also glad to be leaving early today.</p><p>Unlike Francesca and Paige, Meg had given little thought to what she would wear this evening. She had any number of outfits that befit the occasion, but as she sorted through her closet she had a magnificent idea. Toward the back, hidden behind her heavy winter coat, was a red dress that she hadn’t worn in a very long time. She had always felt rather exposed when she wore the tight stretchy fabric, with its spaghetti straps and low cut neckline that revealed a little too much cleavage for her taste. She also knew it to be just a little too sexy for Consulate functions.</p><p>But over the last few weeks she had come to believe that she owed Ben quite a lot, and she smiled slyly as she remembered just how much he liked her in red. She knew she wouldn’t see him before she left, but if she could cover herself just a little with a jacket or scarf for the play, this dress might just make for an interesting evening, after she came home.</p><p>After a quick shower she styled her hair in just the way that Ben liked, spritzed herself liberally with Eternity, a fragrance she knew he loved, more for the name than the scent, and slipped into the sexy little dress. ‘My, how things have changed,’ she thought as she looked at her reflection in the mirror on top of her dresser. ‘Meg Thatcher, you are doing something you promised yourself you never would do, wearing perfume and primping for a man,’ she thought and then smiled to herself. “Ah, but that promise was made before you ever knew what it was like to be in love with a man like Benton Fraser!” she muttered to her reflection.</p><p>She found a large silk shawl scarf with abstract splashes of primary colors and tied it loosely across her shoulders. Her antique garnet ring and matching earrings made the ensemble nearly complete. Once she was able to dig out the heels she had originally bought to go with the dress, she knew she was ready.</p><p>First she had to get through an evening with Francesca Vecchio, and then she could come home and surprise Ben. She smiled deeply as she closed the apartment door behind her, looking for all the world like a beautiful woman in love.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Kerri had given even less thought to what she would wear tonight than Meg had. She had been far too busy running the bookshop and watching over Renfield. She still had nagging doubts about leaving him for the evening, especially with a rambunctious seven- year old, and an equally rambunctious Chicago cop. If Ray let Renny get over tired, she might be forced to kill him!</p><p>After piling her hair on the top of her head in a rather haphazard manner and applying more makeup than she’d worn in a really long time, Kerri began to get into the spirit. It had been awhile since she and Renny had gone out to dinner, preferring the privacy of each other's company at home, and an even longer while since she had seen a play. Now she was rather tingly with anticipation.</p><p>By the time she got around to searching through her closet she was actually looking forward to spending the evening with the girls.</p><p>Once upon a time, when she had still worked for the RCMP, she had attended many formal affairs. She wasn’t sure what she still had in the way of clothing from those days, but when she saw the plastic bag that covered her tuxedo style pants suit, she knew that was it. The jacket was off-white crepe with lapels trimmed in off-white satin, and the matching pants had a satin ribbon that ran down the outside of the legs. From way back in the back of the closet she pulled out a low cut, off-white lace and satin camisole.</p><p>The heels of her matching satin pumps were rather high, but just the thing to go with the suit. She just prayed they didn't have to walk too far, these days her feet and legs were more accustomed to penny loafers and tennis shoes, and the straps on these shoes were rather tight. Since marrying Renfield she had put on just a little weight, but she had never realized until this moment that she’d put it on in her feet!</p><p>Once she had the outfit on she realized her hair was just a little too haphazard. A few minutes spent with a curling iron, a teasing comb and hairspray and she had long tendrils that fell over her ears and her neck, and curls piled on her head.</p><p>Her mother’s diamond ear bobs and a tennis bracelet she had treated herself to several years ago were in place before she finally scrutinized herself in the bathroom mirror.  All of her life people had told her how beautiful she was, but she never really saw it. Okay looking, maybe . . . but beautiful? Not really. Looking at herself now, however, she was just slightly saddened that she rarely got dressed up like this any more. She actually liked what she saw.</p><p>She smiled as she thought of Renfield. She hoped she didn’t give him a heart attack! It had been a long while since she’d put this much thought into her appearance.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Ray was just answering the door as Kerri emerged from the bedroom. She watched as Mere burst through in front of Paige, with Frannie and Meg right behind.  What she heard caused her to smile.</p><p>“Holy shit!” That could have only been Ray, and “Oh, my!” was definitely Renny.</p><p>“Gee, don’t these guys look pretty, Ray?”</p><p>“Honey, there’s no way any a these gorgeous ladies could be called guys,” Ray gulped. “Holy shit! You look terrific!” Ray couldn’t tear his eyes away from Paige and she was thrilled. She would have never said anything, but she was overjoyed that Ray could be in the same room with beautiful Kerri and not even notice her. He only had eyes for Paige.</p><p>Renfield also seemed to only see one woman, his wife. “Kerri,” he whispered, “you look beautiful!”</p><p>There was so much emotion and love in his voice it almost brought tears to her eyes. “Thank you,” was all she could manage to say. </p><p>“Hey! What’re Meg ‘n me, chopped beef? Let’s hear some compliments spread around!”</p><p>Even though she might not care for the phraseology, Meg had to agree with Francesca, it would be nice to hear a couple of compliments.</p><p>“Inspector, Francesca, you both look lovely. The four of you together are certainly going to turn heads –”</p><p>“– ‘n stop traffic! Whaddya think, Turnbull? I don’t know if we should be lettin’ ‘em out unchap – unchaperoned.”</p><p>“I think I would have to agree, Ray. And I think I can speak to Constable Fraser’s agreement also.”</p><p>Ray smirked at Francesca. “N maybe Tom Dewey? Huh, Frannie?”</p><p>Francesca blushed a color to rival Meg’s red dress. “Shut up, Ray.”</p><p>Meredith tugged at Paige’s hand. “What does unchap . . . that word mean, Mommy?”</p><p>Paige grinned at Ray. “It means without a man to look after you, honey.”</p><p>“But I thought you said we could do good without men?” Mere looked thoroughly confused.</p><p>Paige blushed as Ray frowned at her. “We’ll talk about that later, honey,” Paige whispered.</p><p>“Yeah, maybe we should all talk about it later,” Ray said.</p><p>“Hey,” Frannie interrupted. “I’m the only unattached one here,” she glared at Ray with her patented ‘you disagree with me and I’ll give ya a knuckle sandwich’ look, “so I’ll chaperone. We need ta get goin’, I’m hungry and Meg says she needs ta stop at the bank. Let’s make like a tree and get outta here.”</p><p>Meg and Frannie watched impatiently as Kerri and Paige said their good-byes.</p><p>Kerri kissed Renfield on the cheek and admonished him softly. “Don’t you let Mere wear you out,” she whispered. “Or Ray either.”</p><p>He gave her a long-suffering smile and whispered in her ear, “I’d much prefer that you wore me out, actually.”</p><p>Paige bent down to kiss Mere good-bye. “Remember what I told you,” she whispered. “You be sure not to make Mister Mountie too tired. He hasn’t completely gotten over being sick yet, so he shouldn’t play too hard.”</p><p>Mere looked very seriously at her friend and then turned to her mother. “Yes, Mommy, I promise.” Mere never knew exactly why Mr. Mountie was so sick but she did know that all the grown-ups were very worried about him, and that really scared her. She loved him as much, or more, than she had loved her daddy and she didn’t want to do anything that might make her best friend go away like her daddy did.</p><p>As Paige bent to kiss Mere she afforded Ray a very nice view of her very nice behind. When she straightened up, Ray was waiting for her. He drew her into his arms and rubbed his cheek against hers.</p><p>“Ya sure ya wanna leave? I’m sure I could think a some stuff ta entertain’ ya here!”</p><p>“Hold that thought for a few hours and we’ll discuss it when I get back.”</p><p>“Come on you guys, I’m starvin’ here. Ray ‘n Turnbull’ll still be here when ya get back.”</p><p>Meg found herself smiling at Francesca. “Yes,” she agreed, “and the sooner we leave the sooner you will get back.” ‘And I can get home to Ben,’ she thought.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Meg had commandeered the Consulate car for the evening, so it was four foxy ladies in an eye-catching car that searched for a parking place near either the restaurant, the theater or the bank.  The theater, on Randolph St, was only about six blocks away from the restaurant on Wacker. Fortunately for four sets of high-heeled feet, a branch of Meg’s bank was located almost exactly halfway between the two. Unfortunately, the four friends were searching for a parking place at about 4:45 on a Friday evening.</p><p>Meg finally spotted a place on a side street just a block from the bank. Depositing every quarter the four of them could come up with gave them enough time on the meter to hurry to the bank, walk to the restaurant, have dinner and then make it back to the meter in time to deposit more coins prior to going to the theater.</p><p>“Why ya gotta put money in the meter anyway? Don’t you have like diplomatic impunity?” Frannie asked as she dug even more deeply into her bag.</p><p>“That’s immunity and yes, we do have diplomatic plates, but I’d rather spend a few dollars than bother to talk my way out of a parking ticket,” Meg responded as she cranked the knob on the meter once again. “There, two hours. That should be plenty of time.”</p><p>Kerri thought about the four-block walk to the restaurant and wiggled her toes in her high heels. She hoped her feet would hold up for the return trip, and that they didn’t swell. There wasn’t even the tiniest bit of room in these shoes.</p><p>“Sorry about the bank thing, but I paid some bills at lunch today, and if I don’t transfer some money, well, you know,” Meg explained to no one in particular, “and it really is on our way. I just don’t know when I’d find the time otherwise.”</p><p>Frannie was actually surprised that someone like Thatcher would have anything as mundane as bills. “Hey, been there! It’s no problem for me,” she laughed.</p><p>As they fell into step, walking the short distance to the Bank of Montreal, Meg and Frannie found themselves walking next to each other. At a loss as to what to say, Meg said the first thing that came to mind.</p><p>“It certainly is a lovely evening.”</p><p>“Yeah, gonna start gettin hot ‘n humid soon, though. You getting’ used ta it?”</p><p>“Actually, it gets very hot and humid in Toronto too.”</p><p>“That’s where yer from, Toronto?” Frannie had never actually thought about where Meg came from. As far as Frannie was concerned Meg might just as well have sprung, fully-grown, from the depths of the ocean.</p><p>“Near there, yes.” She hesitated to give Francesca any more personal information, but what harm could it do, they were spending a social evening together, after all. “Hamilton, Ontario actually. I still have a sister there.”</p><p>“What about yer folks?”</p><p>“My parents are both dead. They were killed in a plane crash a few years ago.”</p><p>“Gee, that’s tough. My pop was a jerk, but I still miss him, sometimes. Were ya close with yer folks?”</p><p>“Not really. They were living in Europe at the time,” she sighed. “I hadn’t seen them in several years.”</p><p>Frannie caught just a trace of wistfullness in Meg’s tone. “That must a been really hard, not bein able ta say goodbye. I don’t know which is worse, losin’ them when ya really love em, or when ya don’t. There’s so much stuff left unsaid.”</p><p>Meg was shocked at Francesca’s perceptiveness. “You’re right, Francesca. There were a lot of things I would have liked to have said to them,” she sighed.</p><p>“Ya know, I believe that our folks still look out for us after they die. I’ll bet yer folks are really proud of you.”</p><p>Meg was genuinely touched. “Thank you, Frannie.”</p><p>As Meg and Frannie walked ahead of them, Kerri and Paige pondered the fate of Ray, Renny and Mere’s first evening alone.</p><p>“I hope Mere isn’t too much for him, I know you’re still worried about Renfield.”</p><p>“I hope Ray is not too much for him!” Kerri laughed. “I know I shouldn’t worry so much but,” she took a deep breath, “it still scares me to think about how close I came to losing him.”</p><p>“I know. We were all scared, but I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you. It’s a good thing for you to get out tonight, though. You deserve a break.” Paige wanted to say that Kerri needed to back off, that she was smothering the poor man, but she didn’t want to offend her friend. Plus, she couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t have done exactly the same thing if their positions were reversed.</p><p>Frannie found their brief walk in the warm evening air and the conversation with Meg rather pleasant. But she had to smile as they rounded the corner next to the bank. Leave it to Thatcher to find a bank in Chicago that was flying a Canadian flag.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>The building they approached had not started its hundred plus years of existence as a Bank of Montreal, but it had always been a bank. Its exterior had only been updated a few times over the years, but the interior had changed as often as the name on the sign outside, which, as it turned out, was about once every ten years or so.</p><p>These days the interior boasted a sleek but impressive upscale motif, dominated by mahogany and marble. The days of the teller cages had long since passed, and now clerks greeted their customers from a long counter. The counter seemed to be constructed solely of rich, burnished mahogany and was topped with green marble.  </p><p>The large interior space was divided into two areas designated for distinctly different types of business. To the left of the front entrance was a carpeted area containing several mahogany desks of varying sizes, growing larger toward the far end of the room. Each desk held a nameplate, the smaller of the desks bearing the name of the owner and such titles as ‘receptionist’ or ‘administrative assistant’. Farther away from the front door, the nameplates carried such titles as ‘New Accounts’ or ‘Business Accounts’, and farthest back was ‘Assistant Branch Manger’. The carpet the desks sat on was deep forest green, with large, circular mauve patterns resembling wheels woven into it, and trimmed along the perimeter with the same color mauve stripe. </p><p>Where the carpet ended, and the lobby area for customers began, the floor consisted of large marble squares, green to match the customer counter. Standing in a straight line across the marble floor were several writing desks where customers could fill out the necessary paperwork prior to waiting in line. These standup desks were also constructed of the requisite mahogany. </p><p>The only fixtures left in the building from its past lives were the lights. Huge round bowls of cloudy alabaster glass hung suspended from the twelve-foot ceilings by verdigris metal chains. The bowls were also trimmed with verdigris copper straps and stylized grapevines and leaves.</p><p>As Meg entered the bank she was surprised at how many customers were there. Although she knew she should have expected it, it was Friday night after all.</p><p>“God, I’m sorry about this! If you all would like to go on I can do this and then meet you there.”</p><p>“Wow! Nice place,” Frannie whispered over Meg’s shoulder. “All Canadian banks look so fancy schmancy? I don’t know if I’d wanna leave my money in this place, looks like they’d use it ta buy furniture.” Frannie thought about Meg’s request for just a moment. She was kind of warming up to hanging out with her. “I don’t mind waitin’ with ya, Meg. If Kerri ‘n Paige wanna go ahead ‘n get us a table,” Frannie offered as numerous sets of male eyes turned to drink in the vision of four lovely women standing in the doorway.</p><p>“Hey,” Paige whispered, “this is too much fun. I haven’t had this many men ogle me in – well, actually I’ve never had this many men ogle me. I’m staying here for awhile!”</p><p>Kerri had been ogled most of her life, and definitely did not care for the feeling of strangers eyes on her, but if the other three were staying here, so would she. Besides, it gave her feet a rest.  “Okay, I’ll stay too. It shouldn’t be too long, the line looks like it’s moving fairly quickly.”</p><p>Meg got in line as the others loitered around a writing table. They failed to notice the two men who slipped in the front door just at 5:00, just as a bank employee was preparing to lock it. One of the men got in line behind Meg and the other moved to stand at a writing table near where Kerri, Frannie and Paige waited for their friend.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Meg really wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on around her as she made her way slowly toward the front of the line, being instead transfixed by the tiny baby that the woman in line in front of her held. Meg wasn’t the best judge, but she assumed the child to be about five months old. But his age didn’t really matter to her, it was his appearance that drew her, like a moth to a flame. A mass of dark curly hair framed his cherub face. Chubby pink cheeks literally curled into huge dimples when he smiled at her, and his blue-gray eyes twinkled with a mischievous gleam that she found impossible to resist.</p><p>He watched her from over his mother’s shoulder as Meg waved her fingers and giggled as she cooed at him. </p><p>“Mommy, I wanna cookie!” A young boy, about three or four years old stood at the woman's side, tugging relentlessly at her pant’s leg. “Mommy! Mommy!” The young child grew more and more insistent, until his mother could no longer ignore him.</p><p>“Frankie, please! I’ve got my hands full!” she whispered. “You’ll have to wait until we get back to the car.”</p><p>The young boy stuck out his lower lip and prepared himself for battle. “I want it now!” he screamed, completely breaking the spell that his younger brother had cast upon Meg. </p><p>“Franklin, please keep your voice down!” his mother said as she shifted the baby to her other shoulder. “I will give you a cookie when we get to the car.”</p><p>Obviously blessed with the patience of a three-year old, Frankie decided that ‘no’ was not an answer he was willing to accept. He thought about it for a split second and then stomped on his mother’s foot. Once he had her undivided attention, he plopped himself down on the floor and began to cry.</p><p>Seeing that the younger child was becoming upset Meg decided to intervene. “I’d be happy to hold the baby, if you’d like to, ah, deal with the boy.”</p><p>The woman looked Meg up and down and frowned as she thought that the woman in the fancy red dress obviously had no idea what a five-month old could do to it in the matter of seconds, but she really had no choice. People were beginning to stare.</p><p>“Thank you so much!” She barely looked at Meg as she shoved the infant at her. “His name’s Benny,” she said as she turned to attend to her eldest.</p><p>As if the curly hair, cherub cheeks and blue eyes hadn’t melted her heart enough, the sweet little boy’s name completely did her in. “Hi, Benny,” she cooed, “I’m Meg. Is it okay if I hold you? Oh, my, you certainly are a big boy. Cootchie, coothcie, coo,” she murmured as she tickled him under his chin, in the span of fifteen seconds her college educated, professional career woman’s vocabulary reduced to using words like cootchie.</p><p>“It’s so nice to meet you. Are you helping your mommy with her errands?” She smiled at him and was gifted with the most beautiful, toothless smile she had ever seen, and a large amount of drool on her shoulder.</p><p>Meg continued to bounce the precious baby in her arms until his mother was able to get her other son under control. Meg noticed, vaguely, that to the woman’s credit, she did not give in to the child’s demand for a cookie. </p><p>“Thanks,” Benny’s mother said as she took the child from Meg. “Here,” she said, shoving a cloth diaper at Meg, “I should have given you this before you held him too close. He’s teething, and he drools more than our St. Bernard.”</p><p>“He’s really an adorable child,” Meg said as she wiped her shoulder.</p><p>The woman once again looked at the way Meg was dressed. “Don’t have any kids of your own, right?”</p><p>“Well, no, I –”</p><p>“I haven’t been able to wear a dress like that since I was three months pregnant with Frank,” she sighed. She looked at both of her children and smiled. “But what’s a lost figure when this is the result. Although no one ever warned me about the terrible twos, that last for years,” she sighed as she helped her oldest son wipe his nose.</p><p>She was about to say something else when the teller called for her. “Thanks again,” she said as she walked up to the counter. When the woman turned and she could no longer see the baby’s lovely smile Meg was sure that the sun must have gone behind a cloud. It had certainly gotten darker inside the bank.</p><p>Frannie noticed it first. A really disgusting odor that she had smelled a few times at work, a smell that reminded you of cat urine. But it wasn’t cat pee that Frannie smelled, and she knew it. It was the smell of a methamphetamine lab, or more accurately the smell of someone who had been in a meth lab.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Meg noticed the strange smell as soon as she took her mind off the baby. She should have noticed it earlier, she knew, but the child had so captivated her. Now the odor assailed her nostrils and made her sick to her stomach.</p><p>In the first years after she joined the force Meg had worked on a narcotics detail in Toronto. Regardless of what the Americans thought, or what the Canadian government propaganda wanted the world to believe, Ontario, all of Canada for that matter, had a drug problem. And the major growth industry of the drug trade was the manufacture of methamphetamine. </p><p>She knew that the odor was coming from the person standing in line behind her, and she knew that something was terribly wrong. There was no reason that this person should be in this bank, unless . . .</p><p>The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up and her mind raced frantically. She watched as yet another customer was let out of the front door, leaving only Benny and Frankie, their mother, Meg and whoever it was behind her waiting in line.</p><p>She turned nonchalantly and motioned to her friends. “Why don’t you all wait for me outside? It’s such a lovely evening, and I’ll just be another minute.” As she spoke to her friends she surveyed the room. Paige and Kerri were obviously unaware of any problem, but Meg could tell that Francesca was trying to signal something to her. Meg glanced at the man leaning at the writing desk to the left of where her friends waited, and then sneaked just a passing glimpse of the man behind her. </p><p>Before Kerri or Paige could take Meg up on her offer, Frannie spoke up. There was something badly wrong here and Frannie was not about to let Meg face it alone. “Why don’t you go on,” she looked first a Kerri and then at Paige. “I gotta be careful about gettin’ sunburned,” she lied.</p><p>Meg watched as Kerri and Paige strolled casually toward the door. When she turned back to face the counter, her mind was still racing. She knew there were two of them, and that they intended to rob the bank.</p><p>All but one of the tellers had closed their workstations by time it was Meg’s turn to be waited on. She scanned the interior of the bank one last time. There were just a few people left inside the building. Very few bank employees still remained, most apparently wanting to get an early start on the weekend. Kerri and Paige waited as Frankie, Benny and their mother made their way to the front door. There was no way that Meg could risk what she was about to do with those precious children still in the bank.</p><p>As soon as Meg saw the employee stationed by the door turn to unlock it door to let them out, she stepped up to the counter.</p><p>“How may I help you this evening?” the clerk asked in a cheery, if somewhat fatigued tone.</p><p>Meg fumbled around in her bag, stalling for time, much to the annoyance of both the clerk and the man behind her. “It’s in here somewhere,” she chuckled. “You’d think with a bag this small it wouldn’t be so easy to lose – Aha! Here it is.” She made an elaborate show of pulling out her funds transfer slip, with her RCMP ID carefully concealed beneath it.</p><p>“Sorry,” she muttered, rather loudly, to no one in particular. With her back firmly to the man behind her she whispered to the teller, “I am a police officer.” She then raised her voice, “it’s really a beautiful evening, don’t you think?” Lowering her voice again she whispered, “there are two men in here. One directly behind me, and the other leaning on the table off to your right.” Raising her voice again, “I don’t know why in the world I always wait until Friday night…” and then she whispered, “I think they intend to rob the ba –” At that precise moment Meg noticed Benny’s pacifier lying on the counter next to her elbow.</p><p>Deep in conversation with the clerk, Meg had failed to notice that the harried mother had not left the bank, quite the contrary. Before the Assistant Manager had a chance to unlock the door and let Kerri, Paige and the women and her children out, the mother had realized that she had left Benny’s pacifier on the counter.</p><p>She rushed back to the counter just in time to hear Meg whisper ‘rob the bank’ and see the teller’s terrified look as she slid her hand under the counter.</p><p>Benny’s mother screamed and as she did so all hell broke loose.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>When asked to recount the events later, those present would remember the next few minutes as if they passed in front of their eyes in slow motion.</p><p>When the young mother screamed so did her baby, and as Benny began to wail, the robber standing near Francesca drew a gun that had been concealed under his jeans jacket. Meg saw the gun out of the corner of her eye and heard the scruffy man in black denim shout above the frightened cries of mother and child.</p><p>“Shut that damn kid up!” he yelled as he waved the gun in Benny’s general direction. Meg knew instinctively that he would fire and reacted in kind.  She threw herself in front of the baby that reminded her so much of Ben just as blast from the gun echoed through the almost empty bank.</p><p>The ear piercing shot silenced everything and everyone for a split second. But as soon as Meg’s body hit the floor the noise became deafening.</p><p>Benny’s mother began screaming again, and Benny resumed his wailing, this time accompanied by his older brother. The gunman continued to wave his gun at all present and shout for everyone to “shut the fuck up!”</p><p>His accomplice, possessing the leveler of the two heads, began shouting for ‘Joe’ to calm down.</p><p>Finally, with a gun waving in her general direction, Benny’s mother was scared into silence. She clutched her youngest to her breast in a desperate attempt to calm him as she pulled her older child against her body.</p><p>Frannie was the first to move. Seeing a massive amount of blood and scared for her friend Frannie ran right into the path of the armed man.</p><p>“Don't move!” Joe yelled.</p><p>Frannie, worried more about Meg than the gun pointed in her face, yelled right back. “Ya’ve hurt my friend, ya meatloaf! ‘N I’m gonna help her! What’re ya gonna do, shoot us all?” Frannie stood only a few feet from the man who was twice her size and she didn’t back down.</p><p>Before Joe could respond, his partner interrupted.  “Look, we don’t wanna hurt anybudy else. Joe, let her help the lady, but the rest a ya get down on the floor!” He motioned with his gun, that had also miraculously appeared from under his jacket, for the bank employees to come out from behind the counter. Paige was closest to the mother and children, so she helped her with Benny and Frankie. They sat down, leaning against the corner of the customer counter, near the front door.</p><p>Kerri had almost made it out of the bank before the robbers took over so it was necessary for her to walk back toward the center of the room to get her away from the front door. Taking advantage of the fact that she was the only one left on her feet, aside from the robbers, she tried to talk to the unnamed one, the one who seemed just a little more sensible.</p><p>“Look, the police will be here any minute. Someone’s bound to have heard the gunshot, and the place will be surrounded.” Kerri and Renny didn’t watch much television but they loved cop shows. She went with what she knew. “The woman over there, my friend, Meg,” Kerri tried her best not to cry as she looked at Meg, barely able to tell where the red dress left off and the blood began, “needs medical attention. Why don’t you just let all of us go.”</p><p>“No way, pretty lady! Yer hostages now,” Joe yelled.</p><p>But Kerri could tell the other one, the guy with no name, was considering his options. Now was as good a time as any to press the point.</p><p>“Then at least let Meg and the woman and her children go,” she begged. “I know you don’t want to hurt innocent children. And Meg may die! I’m sure you didn’t come here to kill anyone.”</p><p>Mister No Name thought about it for a moment before his eyes hardened and he scowled at her. He did not respond but used his gun to motion for Kerri to get on the floor with the rest of the hostages.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Ray Vecchio was dozing in his favorite recliner, the house blessedly quiet for once, when his cell phone rang. He was tempted to ignore it and go on enjoying the remainder of his day off in peaceful solitude. But he knew that they wouldn’t call unless there was an emergency.</p><p>“Vecchio!” he snapped into phone, “and this better damn well be important!”</p><p>“Ray, it’s Huey. Got a take over robbery going down at the Bank of Montreal on Wacker. Welch is on the other side of town, and we need someone to coordinate stuff!”</p><p>Ray was already on his feet and on the way to his car. There was no need to grumble about this, the situation was just too serious. “How many hostages?”</p><p>“Don’t know yet. Bank’s foreign and got some kinda internal surveillance that’s monitored from their main branch on the north side. It’s gonna take some time but we should be able to get a live feed by the time ya get here. ‘N Ray? The closest hostage negotiator’s on a plane comin’ in from Seattle.”</p><p>By now Ray was in the car. “What! On my way!” ‘Shit,’ he thought, ‘what a way to end the week’.</p><p>By the time Ray arrived on the scene the busy street had been cordoned off and a portable command post had been brought in and set up across from and just slightly south of the bank.</p><p>As he climbed into the command post Ray was once again reminded on how much he hated this thing. It was so cramped with all manner of electronic surveillance equipment that he could barely turn around, not to mention that it was not tall enough for a man of six feet to stand up straight. Fortunately, it was equipped with a rolling chair, so he did not have to stand up, or turn around for that matter.</p><p>The uniformed officer inside the unit moved out of the way when Ray entered. “Okay, what do we know?”</p><p>“Not much,” the officer admitted. “Silent alarm sounded at 5:09pm. Witnesses on the street heard a gunshot at just about the same time. Two women that had just left the bank remembered seeing two kinda ‘suspicious looking’ guys come into the bank just prior to closing.”</p><p>Great! Suspicious. Suspicious to some people meant the guy had a beard. Some people even thought he was suspicious because he was Italian. “Be specific!” Ray demanded. “Suspicious how?”</p><p>“One lady said she thought one of the guys smelled like cat urine,” the officer smugly replied. </p><p>“Shit!” Ray rubbed his hand across the back of his neck and frowned. “Anything on that live feed?” he yelled as he saw Dewey hurry past the trailer.</p><p>“Nothin’ yet. Satellite problems or somthin’.”</p><p>“God damn it, Dewey, we got drugged out guys with guns in there. No tellin’ how long those hostages will stay alive!”</p><p>“Look, we’re doin’ the best we can. It’s a helluva lot more than we’d get if this were an American bank!”</p><p>Ray hated Dewey, always had, and always would. Especially when he was right, which fortunately wasn’t often. But he was right now, and Ray knew they’d just have to wait a little longer. He said a silent prayer for the people in the bank and prayed there weren’t too many of them. He also said a prayer that wherever that bullet had gone it hadn’t hit anyone.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>“I can’t get the bleeding stopped! Ya gotta let her outta here or she’s gonna bleed ta death!” Frannie had never taken anything but the most rudimentary first aid courses because she couldn’t stand the sight of blood. Of course she’d never had anyone depend on her the way Meg was at the moment. Woozy or not, she would do this!</p><p>A very brave bank employee stood up and began taking off his shirt. “She needs something to help stop the bleeding. You can’t just let her die!” He defiantly handed his shirt to Frannie as she tried her best to smile a thank you. She wrapped the shirt as tightly as she dared around the wound in Meg’s shoulder and frowned as she saw her friend wince with pain.</p><p>Meg’s eyes flickered open. “Is the baby okay?” she muttered.</p><p>“Yeah, ya saved ‘em. Both of them,” Frannie whispered back. “Ya need ta be quiet and just rest,” she said as she gently brushed Meg’s hair away from her face. “Yer gonna be okay, just rest.” She tenderly laid Meg’s head in her lap just as Joe began to yell at her.</p><p>“Shut the fuck up all a ya!”</p><p>Frannie lost it. In the last couple of hours she had come to really like Meg and her fear for her friend and herself just nudged her right over the edge.</p><p>“Yeah? And what’re ya gonna do if I don’t? Shoot me too? Oh, big man! Scarin’ women and children. Let’s see just how big ya’d be without that gun!”</p><p>Kerri couldn’t help but intervene. Frannie was about one heartbeat away from getting herself shot. “Frannie, please don’t!” she whispered. </p><p>Kerri’s words brought Frannie back to herself and she mouthed a ‘sorry’ to the other hostages before she refocused her energy toward helping Meg, who had lapsed into unconsciousness.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>“Got it!” Jack Huey yelled from the street into the command post/trailer. “Manager at the north side branch says the feed should be comin’ through now.”</p><p>Internal surveillance cameras are normally used in sequence, each one taking a single snapshot prior to the rotation moving on. But since the silent alarm had been triggered the cameras were taking their snapshots in rapid succession, giving whoever might be looking a view of the interior of the bank from every angle.</p><p>Staring at the small video monitor, it only took Ray about five seconds to get the entire picture of what was happening inside. And only about four seconds for his blood to run cold in his veins.<br/>
________________________________________________</p><p>“Holy Mother of Christ!” Vecchio screamed as he threw himself away from the horror playing out before his eyes, upending his chair and hitting his head on the ceiling of the trailer.</p><p>He didn’t even feel the bump he had raised on the top of his head as he hung out of the narrow door and began to shout. The first person he saw was Huey. “God, Jack, they’re all in there! All of them!”</p><p>The look on Vecchio’s face stopped Huey dead. “Who?” he breathed.</p><p>“Frannie and Kerri and Paige! And Meg’s down.” ‘Dear God’, he thought ‘that gunshot! Meg’s been shot.’ “Get Kowalski and Turnbull over here, NOW!”</p><p>“Ray, what about Fraser?”</p><p>“Jeezus! I don’t know where Fraser is! Why the hell doesn’t he carry a cell phone?” Huey could tell that Ray was just about to lose it.  “Dewey! Find Fraser! Dewey?! What’s you’re problem?"</p><p>Tom had run up behind Jack shortly after he heard Vecchio yelling, and just in time to hear that the girls were in the bank. He was temporarily frozen in his tracks.</p><p>“Sorry,” he whispered. “Fraser should be at their apartment by now,” he muttered to himself, silently praying for Meg and the others, especially Frannie. “I’ll find him!” he yelled as both he and Huey grabbed for their cell phones.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Mere was the only one of the three people in Mr. Mountie’s apartment who wasn’t already worn out. She’d been really careful to not hurt Mr. Mountie, but to her mind Ray was fair game. So when the phone rang, Ray had just gotten her ensconced in front of the TV with several of her stuffed friends, to watch Johnny Bravo cartoons.</p><p>“God,” Ray gasped as he collapsed on the sofa next to Turnbull. “Kids always got this much energy? We outta let them go after the bad guys, they’d run em ta ground ‘n still be able ta walk away!”</p><p>“Feeling your age Detective?” Renfield teased, casting a worried look toward the disgusting cartoons playing on the television.</p><p>“Hey, buddy, I’m not that much older then you!”</p><p>“Are you as old as Ray?” Mere smiled at Renfield from her little nest on the floor.</p><p>“No, sweetheart, Ray is much older than I am,” he snickered, “but sometimes he acts much, much younger,” he muttered to himself.</p><p>“Just shut up ‘n answer the phone!” an unamused Kowalski snapped back.</p><p>As Ray glared at him Renfield went to answer the phone. Ray watched as almost immediately the color drained from Turnbull’s face. “When?” he whispered.</p><p>Ray was on his feet immediately, knowing that something was terribly wrong. “What’s happenin’?”</p><p>Renfield cast a warning glance in Mere’s direction before he continued his conversation. “We’re on our way,” he said quietly before he hung up the phone. “Mere, sweetheart, Ray and I have to go downtown for some police stuff. I’m going to ask Mrs. Hanson to come over and stay with you, okay?”</p><p>“Can I come too? Are you gonna use guns like on TV?” she was on her feet, jumping up and down in anticipation. She didn’t see Renfield wince, but Ray did, and it scared the hell out of him.</p><p>“No honey, this is big people work. Why don’t you run upstairs and get your Tigger, while I call Mrs. Hanson.”</p><p>Ray could hardly wait until Mere was out of earshot before he was all over Turnbull. “What the hell is goin’ on? Ya –”</p><p>“There’s a bank robbery in progress downtown,” Renfield interrupted, “what you would call a ‘take over’ robbery . . . and  . . . and,” his voice faltered just slightly, “Kerri and the others are being held hostage. Inspector Thatcher has been shot.”</p><p>Ray felt the floor open up and threaten to swallow him, but his police officer instincts kicked in quickly. “What’s the situation? Is Thatcher okay? Has anyone else been hurt?”</p><p>“Detective Huey didn’t know much, he just said we need to get there, and quickly.”</p><p>“I’m all over that!”<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Fraser left the Consulate precisely at 5:00pm. He had intended to stay late to catch up on some paperwork, knowing that Meg’s absence would leave their apartment cold and lonely. Come 5:00 though, he just couldn’t seem to sit still, or shake the feeling of unease he'd had for the last hour, so he decided that he and Dief could use a good long walk. Taking the long way home through Comstock Park would be just the ticket for his restlessness.</p><p>“Don’t give me that look! You know as well as I do that you’re getting softer by the day. And me – well domesticity has contributed to my slipping as well. Now just stop that, you big baby! If I am able to walk with just two legs, you most certainly can do it with four!”</p><p>With Dief trotting petulantly behind him, Fraser locked the Consulate door at just a couple of minutes after 5:00 and proceeded to walk the long way home through the park.</p><p>Tom had assumed that finding Fraser would be a cinch. He was wrong. When he couldn’t raise him by phone at either the Consulate or Thatcher’s apartment he sent a patrol car to follow the relatively short route from the Consulate to the apartment, hoping to intercept him on his way home.</p><p>As he watched Ray’s GTO come to a screeching halt just outside side of the barricade, his cell phone rang. </p><p>“What!”</p><p>“I’ve been over the route you told me twice, Sir,” the young officer told him. “He’s not anywhere to be found.”</p><p>“Shit! Ya know who yer lookin’ for, right?”</p><p>Of course she knew! Every woman at the 27th knew who Constable Fraser was. “Yes Sir! And he’s not walking home. He didn’t stop at the bakery, or the Chi –”</p><p>“– shut up a minute!” Tom stood directly in the path of the two ashen faced men running toward him.</p><p>“Get the hell outta the way, Dewey!”</p><p>“Ray wait! We’re tryin’ ta find Fraser! Stand still just a minute, would ya? He’s not at home, not at the Consulate, ‘n nowhere in between. Ya got any idea where he might be?”</p><p>It took Ray a moment to focus, but Renfield was already deep in thought.</p><p>“Before he and the Inspector…that is, try the park. Comstock Park. He and Diefenbaker used to go for walks there.”</p><p>“Got it! Vecchio’s in the command post,” he motioned them toward the trailer as he got back to the officer on the phone.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Fraser arrived at the scene only a few minutes later, having been told that Meg and the others were hostages in a bank robbery gone wrong, but still unaware that the woman he loved so dearly had been hurt.</p><p>Huey rushed toward the squad car as it too screeched to a halt outside the barricade, right next to Kowalski’s GTO.</p><p>“They’re all in the command post over here. We’ve got thirteen hostages,” he tired to bring Fraser up to date and they ran toward the trailer. He hesitated to tell the man the rest and was saved the trouble as Turnbull met them at the top of the steps into the trailer.</p><p>Fraser tried to push past the larger Mountie, but Turnbull could not allow his friend and fellow officer to see what was happening in the bank without warning him first.</p><p>“Ah, Sir before you go in, there’s something you need to know.”</p><p>“Constable, please get out of the way! Detective Huey has apprised me of the situation. I need to discuss –”</p><p>“No Sir!” Turnbull’s uncharacteristically adamant tone got Fraser’s full attention. “We have a live video feed, so we can see most of what is going on in there.” He grabbed Fraser by the upper arm and led him a few steps away.</p><p>“Constable! What is it!” Fraser was beginning to feel ill.</p><p>“Sir…Benton, the Insp…Meg has been shot.” Turnbull felt Fraser stiffen under his grip. “We can’t tell the extent of her injuries, but she is moving and seems to be drifting in and out of consciousness. Frannie is with her, Benton, and Kerri is there too. And we’ve established…”</p><p>“Fraser! Get in here!” Kowalski yelled before Turnbull could finish.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Ray Vecchio was on the phone when the two Mounties tried to cram into the phone booth sized command post. Fraser didn’t care about that though, his entire consciousness was centered on the small black and white video monitor that was flashing snapshot pictures of the interior of the bank for all to see.</p><p>The scene the pictures presented sickened him. Frannie sat in the center of the marble floor, with Meg’s head in her lap. For the first few seconds Fraser could only see various angles of Meg’s lower torso, her upper body being hidden by Frannie’s.</p><p>But all too soon the cameras rotated to one that revealed all too clearly Meg’s condition. His eyes misted with tears temporarily as he saw the blood soaked cloth that covered her left shoulder and arm. He was only vaguely aware of Turnbull’s hand on his shoulder as he stared at the monitor.</p><p>Once his eyes cleared he was able to focus on entire scene before him. Kerri knelt beside Meg, the front of her white suit stained with what he assumed was Meg’s blood. He saw Paige, approximately ten feet away, sitting on the floor leaning against the front counter. He saw the mother with her two children sitting next to Paige, and the other hostages lined up along the counter next to them.</p><p>The robbers were standing toward the front of the bank, occasionally darting to the side window to glance at the street outside. Fraser could tell that both men were highly agitated.</p><p>“Benton, she will be all right, really. We’ve seen her talking to Kerri and Francesca.”</p><p>“We have got to get her out of there.” Fraser said with very little emotion. He suddenly realized that he was not the only man in the cramped space that knew that. He also realized that he wasn’t the only man present who was suffering. He looked from Turnbull to Kowalski. “All of them, and quickly. Do you have a plan?”</p><p>“There are SWAT sharpshooters on the roof across the street and in the alley behind the building, but they can’t get a clear shot without endangering the hostages. The gunmen know enough to stay away from the windows, but it seems that is about all they know. This seems to have been a robbery of convenience, not one that much, if any planning went into.”</p><p>Fraser was only mildly surprised at Turnbull’s perceptiveness, very little about Turnbull ever surprised him any more.</p><p>“Yeah, these guys seem ta be really dumb. Which is the worst kinda guy ta have a gun.” Ray winced and swore under his breath as he watched the bigger of the two men wave his gun under Paige’s nose.</p><p>“Got it!” Vecchio yelled. “It’s ringing!”</p><p>“Vecchio’s gonna try talkin’ to em,” Kowalski explained to Fraser.</p><p>Ray Vecchio had taken a course in crisis negotiations and had been instructed on how to attempt to diffuse hostage situations, but at the moment he could not think of one thing he’d learned.</p><p>“It looks like they’re gonna answer it!”</p><p>“Everybody say a prayer, here goes.” Vecchio watched the monitor as the screen flashed to a shot of the man they had tentatively identified as the ringleader picking up the phone. Ray then turned his back to the monitor so that he could concentrate his full attention toward the conversation.</p><p>“This is Ray Vecchio, Chicago Police Department. Who’s this?”</p><p>“Yeah right, like I’m just gonna tell ya that!”</p><p>“Just wanted to be able to call you by name that’s all.”</p><p>The man on the other end of the line hesitated briefly. “Okay. Charlie, just call me Charlie.”</p><p>“How’s it going in there Charlie? Hostages okay?” Ah! He was remembering some things, like not to let the bad guys know the police could see what was going on.</p><p>“Could be better. Ya need ta let us outta here.”</p><p>“Sure, just put your guns down and come out with your hands up. And no one will get hurt.”</p><p>“No way! We want a helicopter and one million dollars!”</p><p>“Charlie, you know I can’t do that. Let the hostages go and then we’ll talk.”</p><p>“NO FUCKIN WAY!” And then the line went dead.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Ray laid the phone back in its cradle on a narrow ledge of counter and turned back toward the video monitor. He watched as Charlie grabbed Kerri by the arm and dragged her to her feet. He heard Turnbull’s rapid intake of breath and saw him turn a deathly shade of pale. </p><p>He had to try again. He hit the redial button and held his breath as he waited for the call to go through.</p><p>Charlie didn’t bother with pleasantries. “I got a pretty lady here who’s gonna tell ya exactly what yer gonna do and she’s gonna tell ya what I’m gonna do if ya don’t.”</p><p>Vecchio looked at Turnbull, willing the man to not pass out, but to his surprise the young Mountie seemed to be in complete control. They all watched yet another snapshot of Charlie as he held the phone to Kerri’s ear while he continued to listen.</p><p>“Hello?” Kerri’s shaky voice came over the phone.</p><p>“This is the police, who am I talking to?” Ray tried desperately to sound as official as he could. There was no way in hell he wanted the gunmen to know that he knew Kerri, or that Kerri knew a cop.</p><p>Kerri was frightened enough to not recognize his voice. “My name is Kerri Turnbull,” she said very slowly in an effort not to stutter.</p><p>“Ms. Turnbull,” everyone in that trailer prayed she wouldn’t give herself away, “my name is Lieutenant Raymond Vecchio.” Ray heard her rapid intake of breath over the line. “I know you don’t know me,” he hurried to add, “but I am a police officer. Can you tell me the situation inside there?”</p><p>Her response was a long time coming. “There are thirteen of us. My friend Meg Thatcher,” Ray exhaled deeply, God bless her, Kerri caught on, “is hurt and needs medical attention. Plus there are two small children.”</p><p>They watched the monitor as Charlie waved his gun in Kerri’s face. “Quit answering his questions ‘n tell him what we want!” they could all hear Charlie shout his demand in the background.</p><p>“They want money and safe passage out of here. Okay!” Kerri snapped, “they want a million dollars. Or . . . or they are going to start killing us.” Ray could here tears in her voice. “Starting with Meg. Please…” Kerri’s plea was left unheard as the line went dead.</p><p>Turnbull muttered, “excuse me,” and hurried out of the trailer. </p><p>Kowalski found him, bent at the waist with his hands resting on his thighs, behind the trailer. Placing his hand on his friend’s back he whispered, “Ya okay, buddy?”</p><p>“Yes. Seeing that man with his hands on Kerri reminded me…reminded me so much of René. I just couldn’t… It just seemed that suddenly there was no air in there.”</p><p>“Got ya.”</p><p>“I’m okay now, we need to get back inside.”</p><p>Inside the bank things had gone from bad to worse. Benny was hungry and growing fussier by the minute and Frankie was scared and cried a little too loudly for Joe’s nerves. Paige tried her best to soothe little Frankie, but she wasn’t able to help much.</p><p>Frannie was extremely worried about Meg. A bullet wound to the shoulder in itself shouldn’t be life threatening, but she had lost so much blood and was so deathly pale.</p><p>Kerri was terrified for Meg, and vaguely worried about Paige. Paige always shrank from violence, conditioned by her marriage, Kerri assumed, but right now Paige seemed almost paralyzed with fear. And of course, Kerri was just as scared as she had been when Renfield’s brother had abducted her.</p><p>Meg was oblivious to most of what was happening. Weak and dizzy, it was hard for her to remain conscious. When she was conscious, however, she asked for as much information as her weakened condition would allow.</p><p>“You…you’ve got to make sure they don’t know who we are…” she whispered to Frannie. “See if there…there’s a way to get them near a…window. There’s bound … bound to be sharpshooters…and SWAT. See…there’s any…any way to hide…my ID, it’s still on…the counter.”</p><p>Shit, Frannie thought, there’s no way they’re gonna let me stand up, let alone get anywhere near that counter! She also knew that Meg didn’t need to worry about that. “Shh,” Frannie whispered, “ya don’t wanna wear yerself out. It’s okay, the guys will handle it. No way ‘n hell Fraser’s gonna let anything more happen ta you.”</p><p>Meg offered her a weak smile and closed her eyes while gathering strength. “You and I haven’t always gotten along, have we?”</p><p>Frannie grinned at her as she gently wiped beads of perspiration off Meg’s brow. “Well, maybe not, but we’ve always agreed on one thing – Fraser.”</p><p>“Fraser,” Meg whispered as she smiled and closed her eyes again.</p><p>Dammit, Fraser! Get the hell in here or yer gonna lose her! Frannie thought as she watched Meg’s bloodless face.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>The hostage negotiator finally arrived and no one was more relieved than Ray Vecchio. Trying to hold things together when his sister and good friends were being held at gunpoint was just about to break him.</p><p>“It’s about time!” he yelled, immediately regretting it. It wasn’t her fault that she was the only one available and she’d been on an airplane when all this came down.</p><p>Completely unruffled by his rebuke, the negotiator introduced herself and got to work. “My name is Marjorie Elliot. I apologize for not getting here more quickly, but I was the closest person they could find. Now, I know the bare bones of the situation, two gunmen, thirteen hostages, one wounded and two children –”</p><p>“We have live video feed.” Vecchio pointed at the monitor. </p><p>“Very good! The gunshot victim, do we know her condition?”</p><p>“Before ya go any farther, ya gotta know that four a them, including Meg, the ‘victim’ are, uh…”</p><p>“What Mister Eloquence here is trying to say is this woman,” Vecchio pointed as the cameras rotated, first to Paige, “is his girlfriend,” as the camera angle changed he continued, “and this woman is this guy’s wife, and this woman is my sister, and this woman is the guy in red…” girl just wasn’t a word Vecchio could use to describe Meg, “uh, lady friend. She’s also a cop, a Mountie.”</p><p>Marjorie continued to stare at the monitor for the full rotation of the cameras before she straightened up. “I see,” she whispered. “I’m impressed gentlemen, you’ve been able to keep your cool. Are you all officers of the law?" When they all nodded she sighed. “Then I am even more impressed. But I am also very worried. Given your current situation I have to believe that you might not be able to make the best decisions for the hostages based on the feelings you have for these four women.” She hesitated for longer than any of them liked. “I would like for all of you to leave, with the exception of Lt. Vecchio.”</p><p>“No way, Lady! We’re cops, we’re stayin’.” Kowalski snapped.</p><p>“Ms. Elliott, we are highly trained professionals, Constable Turnbull and I having been through extensive paramilitary training. We are all capable of keeping our personal feelings in check.” Fraser was adamant.</p><p>Elliott looked from one to the other, studying faces and calculating emotional reactions. She didn’t care for the looks in their eyes, but given the circumstances, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have the same hardened steel look. “All right, gentlemen. You may stay, on one condition. I am in charge. I do not want to spend precious time explaining my every decision or move. I expect you to follow my lead, do what I say, and stay out of my way, although, in this space that may be a little hard to do.” She changed her imperious tone and spoke to them as the relatives and loved ones of people in danger. “I too am a highly trained professional, Constable. I have only the best interests of the hostages – all of them – in mind. I will do my very best to get everyone out of there alive.” She tossed her brown hair over her shoulder, straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s get at this.”</p><p>Ray Vecchio did not like the looks of this woman one little bit. She couldn’t be more than five feet two inches tall and one hundred pounds soaking wet. He knew she was not a cop, which irritated him. To his way of thinking this was a police matter. Taking over immediately irritated him too, he was in charge here, and even though he was secretly overjoyed to relinquish control, he didn’t like the way she just took it for granted that she would be the boss, even if it was procedure.</p><p>If Ray didn’t like her looks, it was nothing compared to what he thought of the first command she gave.</p><p>“We need to establish contact with the robbers again. I’ve got to get,” she looked at Vecchio, “Meg, is it? I’ve got to get Meg and those children out of there. The only way to do that is to tell them that Meg is a cop.”</p><p>“What?” Four sets of male voices gasped in unison.</p><p>She glared at them before her eyes soften and she remembered these men were not only police officers but also had a personal interest in Meg. “Okay, look, I know that that’s not SOP for this kind of a situation. But they can’t use her as leverage, they won’t shoot her if they know that she gets paid to put herself in the line of fire, and we can play on the fact that if she dies the Mounties will track them to the ends of the earth. American’s eat that stuff up, you know.”</p><p>To a man they all realized she was right.</p><p>“And that is the last time I will explain my actions to any of you, Gentlemen,” she stated with the air of authority that made Vecchio want to chew nails.</p><p>Ray pushed the redial and handed the phone to Elliott.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>“Time’s gettin’ short there Ray! Where’s the money?”</p><p>“Sorry, uh,” Ray mouthed his name at Elliott, “Charlie, but Ray’s not here right now. My name’s Marj. How are you and your partner doing? You must be getting awfully tired.”</p><p>“We’re great! Just great! Where’s our money?”</p><p>“Look, Charlie, we’re doing our best out here. In the meantime I’m going to ask you to let the children and the wounded woman go.”</p><p>“I already told that other guy! NO!”</p><p>Marj knew that he was about to hang up, so she hurriedly added, “You can’t let her die! She’s a Mountie!”</p><p>“What!” Charlie whispered loudly enough for all to here. “There’s a cop in here?!”</p><p>“Charlie! Listen to me. She’s not a cop in the US. She doesn’t even carry a gun. Look in her bag, you’ll see I’m telling you the truth. I'll wait…”</p><p>Everyone watched snaps of Charlie slowly walking toward Frannie, Kerri and Meg, his gun trained intently on the prone figure. He fished through her bag and then tossed it to the floor.</p><p>“Okay, so she doesn't have a gun! We want even more money fer her! If we don’t get it she dies.”</p><p>“Oh, Charlie,” Marj said softly, “that wouldn’t be a very good idea. She’s a Mountie Charlie. Haven’t you ever heard it said that Mounties always get their man? If she dies you’ll have both the FBI and the Mounties after you. I don’t think that’s really what you had intended, is it?”</p><p>Marj didn’t notice, but Fraser’s eyes had darkened to the color of storm clouds and his jaw was clenched so tightly his face looked as if it were chiseled from granite. If he gripped the back of the hard plastic chair any tighter it would surely snap in two. If Marj had noticed she would have prayed even harder, for herself.</p><p>“Why don’t you think about it and I’ll call you back in five minutes? And Charlie? Let the little ones go too? They must be getting awfully fussy, it’s way past their dinner time.” Marj hung up, leaving Charlie staring at the phone, and the other occupants of the trailer staring at her, all in amazement.</p><p>“Yer pretty good at this,” Kowalski admitted.</p><p>Marj looked at her watch before she responded matter-of-factly. “That’s what I get paid for. Now let’s just hope we’ve taken one small step forward. We’ve got an ambulance and paramedics, right?”</p><p>“Standing by.”</p><p>“We’re going to need them to go in and get her. Constable, I imagine you will want to go to the hospital with her?” She looked at Fraser. She had seen many distraught people in her line of work but found the look on this man’s face positively frightening.</p><p>He finally responded, “I don’t –”</p><p>“–we can handle this, Benny. You need to be with Meg.”</p><p>Fraser looked at Vecchio for just a moment, gratitude shining in his eyes, prior to looking back to Elliott, “Ray is correct, of course. You all can handle this situation, I should be with Meg.”</p><p>The five minutes passed slowly, seeming endlessly, before it was time for Marj to call back. Exhibiting a confidence she didn’t quite feel, she placed the call.</p><p>Charlie seemed to have much less bravado when he answered this time. “Prompt, huh?”</p><p>“I’ve been accused of that, yes. What did you decide? Can we come in and get the Mountie and the children?”<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>By now every one of the hostages knew that the wounded woman was a cop. They could also tell that Charlie was having a great amount of trouble controlling Joe. They all had gone from scared to terrified as they listened to Joe shouting to kill ‘em all’ and Charlie trying to keep a tenuous grip on the situation.</p><p>Charlie ordered Frannie and Kerri to move away from Meg so he could keep an eye on her.</p><p>“Please don’t just leave her lying there!” Kerri pleaded. “She’s bleeding to death! Let someone come in and get her.”</p><p>“Let them all go! I’ll be yer stupid hostage!" Frannie cried, “but let me sit with my friend until you let her go!”</p><p>“We’ll both stay. Please Charlie, let the others go. Two hostages are better than a big group anyway.”<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>“Well, Charlie? Are you going to let the paramedics come in and get the Mountie and the kids?” Marj urged.</p><p>“No!”</p><p>The tiny hostage negotiator sagged noticeably as she exhaled. “Charlie –”</p><p>“No, ya can’t come in ‘n get her.”</p><p>“But, Charlie, is she able to walk out?”</p><p>“Hey you, hero boy! Yeah you! Get over here.” He turned from the young employee who had given Frannie his shirt to bandage Meg back to the phone. “Her hero boy is gonna carry her out. The lady with the kids is gonna come out first.”</p><p>“Thank you Charlie!” Marj breathed. “This is a really smart thing you’re doing.”</p><p>“Yeah, right, like I got tons a brains!” With that the line went dead. </p><p>They all turned to Fraser, only to find that he was already long gone.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>There had never been a time in all his life that Fraser had given in to panic. Even under the direst circumstances he had always been able to maintain a level head, never allowing fear to rule his actions. Even as a young boy, when given the news that his mother was never coming home again, he had waited until they had left him before he allowed himself to succumb to tears of grief and the fear of being alone. On the mountainside when he was sure that he and his prisoner, the woman he had allowed himself to love, were going to die, he still was able to keep his fear in check.</p><p>But it was not that way now. He ran, literally sprinted toward the ambulance, as he watched the bank doors open and the man carry Meg, lifeless, toward the waiting SWAT officers. It was barely a half block to the stretcher behind the barricade, but he felt that he was running in slow motion, that every stride was painfully slow and awkward.</p><p>It was only a few seconds until he reached them, only just a split second after the man in full black SWAT regalia laid her on the stretcher, before Fraser was on his knees at her side. And only a split second after that there were two sets of strong hands pulling him away.</p><p>“Let these guys do their job, Fraser.” Both of the SWAT officers knew Constable Fraser, and just as most of the Chicago PD, bore grudging admiration for him. They also knew his attractive commanding officer and that she and Fraser were involved. There was nothing worse for either of them than to see a fellow officer down, unless it was the grief that they both identified with from a fellow officer when a loved one was injured. “Go with them to the hospital,” one man whispered.</p><p>Kowalski, Vecchio and Turnbull heard the wail of the siren as the ambulance sped off, silently thanking God, and hostage negotiator Elliott, that there was still a need to use the siren.</p><p>Vecchio turned to the remaining Mountie. Seeing his stricken face he couldn’t help but reassure him. “They’ll call us the minute they know anything. You still with us buddy?”</p><p>“Absolutely,” was Turnbull's firm reply.</p><p>As a man the three officers turned toward Elliott, who was studying the scene in the bank intently.</p><p>And then they were eight. Eight hostages left, for the moment anyway, in the deadly quiet bank. The poor, scared little children and their mother were safe, and the police officer was on the way to the hospital. And the shirtless hero was being taken to be debriefed. The large pool of drying blood was the only tangible reminder of what they had just been through, but they all feared the worst was yet to come.</p><p>Joe was getting very close to the edge, and all present knew that it wasn’t going to be too much longer before Charlie wouldn’t be able to control him any more.</p><p>“Why the hell ya let ‘em go? That cop was our ticket outta this mess! Some plan, first ya –”</p><p>“SHUT UP! Just shut the hell up! I can’t think with you screamin’ in my ear! Yer worse than those damn kids!” Their shouts rang through the mahogany and marble bank and reverberated off the walls.</p><p>Joe came within a heartbeat of turning the gun on his partner. Charlie saw the momentary flash in Joe's eyes and heard the involuntary gasps from the eight people lined up along the counter.</p><p>At that exact moment, the phone rang.</p><p>“What!” Charlie demanded.</p><p>“Thank you, Charlie,” Marj said smoothly. “You did the right thing. If you give yourselves up, this will make things go easier for you.”</p><p>“How’s the cop?”</p><p>“We don’t know yet.”</p><p>“Yeah, like you’d tell me anyway.”</p><p>Elliott was very good at her job. She heard something in Charlie’s voice, just a little hint of something that made her think he might be coming around. “Charlie, I will be honest with you. I promise you that much. If Inspector Thatcher does not survive I will tell you.” She certainly hoped that was one truth she would never have to reveal.</p><p>Charlie knew there was a whole room full of witnesses that could swear he wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, but that didn’t amount to a hill of beans where a cop was concerned. Accomplice/triggerman, it all amounted to the same hard time.</p><p>“Charlie?” Marj said firmly. “Please think about letting the hostages go? It will go much easier for you.” She frowned when she realized a response was not forthcoming. “Do you have any children, Charlie? It was a nice gesture letting their mother go too. She’s the one that they need right now.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Charlie finally whispered, “I got two. They’re with their mom in LA.”</p><p>“That’s rough. If you give yourself up, you’ll be able to see them just that much sooner.” Marj knew from experience that she was getting through to him and none too soon. As they all watched the monitor they could see Joe becoming more and more agitated.</p><p>The line went dead as they watched Joe and Charlie begin to argue once again.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>For a Friday evening the emergency room was blessedly empty. Fraser paced the halls just as he had done barely four weeks prior. There was one major difference this time, however. This time it wasn’t just a friend and colleague who was in danger, it was the woman who meant the world to him, the woman to whom he had given his heart and his soul. The woman whose life was more important to him than his own.</p><p>“Mr. Fraser?” a soft, feminine voice called from behind him.</p><p>Fraser whirled to face Angie, the nurse who had been so attentive to him while he watched over Turnbull.</p><p>“Hello, Miss –”</p><p>“Angie’s fine. We’re seeing far too much of you lately Mr. Fraser.”</p><p>“Please, it’s Ben or Benton, if you prefer.” He glanced toward the ER, “and I’d rather be anywhere else but here,” he sighed.</p><p>Angie’s heart went out to the handsome man who always seemed to be wearing a Mountie suit. She gently touched his arm and tried her best to smile at him. “We will let you know just as soon as we can. In the meantime, can I get you anything? Coffee, tea, water?”</p><p>“No thank you.”</p><p>‘Poor man,’ Angie thought as she walked away.</p><p>“Constable?”</p><p>Fraser recognized the doctor immediately. He had been instrumental in saving Turnbull’s life. “I never realized being a Mountie working in the US could be so dangerous. Your Inspector will be fine. She’s lost a lot of blood, but if a bullet must violate a human body, hers couldn’t have been in a better place. She’ll be fine, Constable, relax. We’ll need to keep her for awhile, just to be sure, but she’ll be as good as new in a few days.” He frowned at Fraser. “You on the other hand look as if you’re about to keel over. You’d better sit down. Angie!” he yelled, “get our Mountie friend some orange juice, and hurry!”</p><p>Fraser did indeed feel lightheaded. The news was such a relief that he thought he just might pass out.</p><p>“I’ve had enough Mountie patients for the time being Constable. Drink this,” the doctor ordered, grabbing the cup from Angie and shoving it at the Mountie. Just as quickly as he drank the juice Fraser began to feel better.</p><p>“Thank you kindly,” he muttered as he handed the empty cup back to Angie. “I guess this is all just a little…overwhelming.”</p><p>“Being in love often affects one that way,” the doctor smiled. “You can go in to see her but for just a minute.” The stricken look from the wobbly Mountie caused the doctor to rethink his statement. “All right! You can stay with her, but at least let us get her settled in a private room.” The man started to leave in a huff, but suddenly remembered, “but NO wolf!” He had to draw the line somewhere. Although he knew as soon as that animal made his wolf eyes at one of the nurses doctor’s orders would be ignored.</p><p>Fraser made his way into an all too familiar emergency room cubicle. Looking at Meg staggered him. He was so used to being in control, to knowing how to respond to every situation, that now he was momentarily unable to move or to think.</p><p>It only took him a moment to regroup however, and in that moment Meg opened her eyes.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>If he could have danced around the cramped trailer, Kowalski would have done so. The call from the hospital told them more than just that Meg was okay. It also told them that Marj had yet another bargaining tool.</p><p>“Hi, Charlie,” Marj said when she heard him pick up the phone. “I’ve got some very good news. The Mountie will be fine. In the hospital for a time, but she’s alive and awake. What say we keep your score a perfect zero and you let the rest of those poor people go?” There was another long, disturbing pause before Marj had to prompt him again, “Charlie?” She could hear Joe shouting in the background and see him gesturing wildly on the monitor.</p><p>“Charlie, I can hear your partner in the background. Please! Please, let those people out of there before he does something you will both have to pay for.”</p><p>Marj watched his face as the camera held on it for just the briefest moment. She liked what she saw, indecision, fear and maybe just a little acquiescence. Now was the time to strike.</p><p>“Charlie, your partner is going to drag you down with him. There is a vast difference between armed robbery and murder. Charlie, take control here and let these people go! Don’t let him make a murderer out of you!”</p><p>The line was quiet a very long time, a lifetime for the four occupants of the cramped trailer and an eternity for the people who had made the mistake of being in the Bank of Montreal on a busy Friday night. Finally all present could tell that Charlie had reached a decision.  </p><p>“I’m lettin’ them go,” he announced to Joe. “Everybudy, get up ‘n get outta here!”</p><p>Over the phone Marj heard Joe begin to shout. “The fuck you are! I’ll kill every fuckin’ one a ya! Starting with you!” Before Charlie had a chance to react Joe raised his gun and fired. </p><p>All the occupants of the trailer watched as several of the hostages screamed, seeing their only hope fall to the floor. Now pretty much out of his mind, Joe grabbed the closest person and dragged her to the door. Putting a gun to her head and throwing an arm around her throat, Vecchio, Kowalski, Turnbull and Elliott watched as Joe barged onto the street.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Kowalski, Vecchio, Turnbull and Elliott scrambled out of the command post, the video monitor of little use to them now. From where they stood, at the base of the steps that lead into the trailer, they could see Joe and his lone hostage, on the sidewalk in front of the bank.</p><p>Joe swung back and forth like a crazed pendulum, trying desperately to keep withdrawal-blurred eyes on all aspects of the scene in front of him. He tightened his grip on her so tightly that Kerri could barely breathe.</p><p>“Get outta my way, or pretty lady here’s dead lady!” he yelled as he started dragging her one way, only to see the barricade, then turning back to try the other direction, only to see that he was trapped.</p><p>Kerri couldn’t see anything. There were tears in her eyes and everything and everyone seemed to be in shadow. She tried to remember what she had said to René when he was holding her, but the words just would not come. Not only could she not speak, she could barely breathe. She knew that in a few moments words wouldn’t matter because she would probably pass out for lack of oxygen. Then it really wouldn’t matter because Joe would surely shoot her.</p><p>In the end it was her high heels that saved her. The heel of one of the shoes that she was so concerned would hurt her feet caught in a sidewalk grate and brought all of her weight down against Joe. Unable to maintain his hold on her, Kerri fell to the ground as the crack from a rifle shot from behind him brought Joe down right on top of her.</p><p>She tried not to scream. She tried not to lose control. She tried not to cry. She failed on all three counts.</p><p>With Joe’s body fully on top of her Kerri was unable to move, so she panicked. Screaming for someone to get him off of her, she failed to notice the two SWAT officers who hurriedly lifted the dead weight, or the two strong arms that drew her off the ground and into a tight embrace.</p><p>Renfield was halfway across the street before he even realized he was moving. Running faster than he had ever run in his life, he made it to Kerri just as the other officers where pulling the dead man away.</p><p>He tried his best to be gentle but Kerri was hysterical. He grabbed her and did the only thing he knew to do, he pulled her tightly to his chest and held on. </p><p>“Shh, it’s okay,” he murmured into her hair, “it’s okay. It’s over. They’re dead, sweetheart. They can’t hurt you any more. You’re okay. Thank God, you’re all okay."</p><p>Vecchio, Kowalski and Elliott were only about three paces behind the swarm of SWAT offices that stormed the bank. Even though the crisis was over, several overly enthusiastic officers felt it necessary to search the bank for who knew what.</p><p>Kowalski had Paige in his arms before Vecchio could make it as far as Frannie. Frannie still sat in the middle of the floor, but this time she held Charlie. </p><p>“Frannie?” Vecchio called to her.</p><p>She looked up at her brother with tears staining her cheeks. “Why, Ray? Why’d that jerk have ta kill him? He was gonna let us go! He was sorry that Meg was hurt, I could tell! But he just pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.”</p><p>Ray pulled her away from the body and held her in his arms. “It’s okay, Sis. It’s okay. He was a drugged out crazy, he got what he deserved. I’m just glad you’re all okay!”</p><p>“Meg?” she asked as she pulled away, swiping at her tears with the back of her hand.</p><p>“She’s okay. Fraser’s at the hospital with her.” Out of the corner of his eye Ray could see Elliott speaking to each one of the hostages, helping them to their feet and only after several words of encouragement turning them over to officers who led them outside.</p><p>“Let’s get you guys outta here. Kowalski? Let's get outta this place.”</p><p>Each Ray led the woman in his life out of the bank and into the twilight. The pandemonium on the street had quietly slightly, but neither Paige, Frannie or Kerri noticed the activity. They were safe in the arms of the men that loved them, and that was all that mattered for the time being.</p><p>Marj would only allow the police the briefest of interviews with the hostages. She elicited a promise from each of them that they would be available to give a statement the following day and then offered the assistance of a pastor or counselor to anyone who wished it. She arranged for a patrol car for anyone who needed a lift home, and then she went to survey the crime scene.</p><p>The hostages were free, but Charlie’s body had yet to make it out of the building. She stood over the dead man and stared for several moments. “I really believed we’d get through this, you and me, without anyone having to die. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it work, Charlie,” she sighed.</p><p>“He was the bad guy. Why ya care about him?” one of the men asked as they hefted Charlie’s body into a body bag.</p><p>Marj stared at the unknown man with blank eyes, not really understanding what he was asking. When she finally realized she just sighed. “Any man’s death diminishes me,” she said as she turned away from the confused men.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>When Meg awoke she felt as if someone had used her head as a bowling ball. It ached more fiercely than she thought possible. She was dizzy and nauseous too. All in all the symptoms of a really horrendous hangover, but she was sure she hadn't gotten drunk.  When her mind cleared and she saw the concerned gray eyes watching her, she remembered.</p><p>“God, Ben,” she croaked through a dry throat and even drier lips, “is it over? Is everyone okay?”</p><p>“The gunmen are dead, but everyone else is fine. Rather shaken up, I’m afraid, but no permanent damage.” He tried to smile but the worry in his eyes was all Meg could see. </p><p>“Not exactly…” she tried to clear her throat and lick her lips.</p><p>Fraser was up in an instant and back with a cup of water. Helping her to drink it gave him the chance to hold her and assure himself that she was still with him.</p><p>“Thank you,” Meg said as he laid her back against the pillow. “I was going to say…not exactly the evening I had…planned.”</p><p>Ben tried to smile again and this time was successful. “You’ll have plenty of time to have dinner with Kerri and the others after you are healed.”</p><p>“Not what I meant,” she sighed. “I wanted,” taking a deep breath for strength she continued, “wanted to spend a romantic night with you…after…after the play.”</p><p>Fraser’s smiled deepened as he pressed her hand to his lips. “There will be an abundance of time for that too!”</p><p>She turned her head away from him as a tear escaped the corner of her eye. “But now…now I’ll be…ugly, scarred. I –”</p><p>Fraser was horrified. He cupped her cheek with his hand and gently forced her to look at him. “You are not ugly!” he whispered. He brought his fingers down to lightly touch the bandage covering her bullet wound. “You got this saving a child and his mother. It’s not a scar, and I will not have you saying such a thing. You are a hero, Margaret Thatcher, and this is a…a badge of honor. A sign to all the world that you are a brave woman! The woman I love.”</p><p>Another tear escaped and trickled into her hair. Fraser bent to kiss the trail it left on her temple. “Every time I see this I will once again be reminded that you are the best, the bravest, the most honorable woman I have ever known.”</p><p>Meg smiled right into a huge yawn. She could hardly keep her eyes open, and she fought the battle of her life to stay focused on Ben’s beautiful eyes. “His name’s Benny. He looks just like…you,” she was rapidly losing her battle with fatigue. “I had to save him, he looked so much like you…he could have been ours…”</p><p>Meg closed her eyes and fell asleep before she saw the tender look of love and pride in Fraser eyes. It was a look she would have been very sorry to know she missed, a look that no other woman had ever seen.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>Renfield muttered a short goodbye to Ray and Paige as they continued on up the stairs to Paige’s apartment. Renfield led Kerri into their apartment and stood next to her, wondering briefly what to do next. </p><p>Deathly quiet and still dressed in her blood splattered clothes, Kerri looked completely devastated. Renfield led her to a chair and forced her to sit down. </p><p>He could feel her trembling beneath his hands. “Will you be okay by yourself for a minute?”</p><p>Kerri’s eyes flew open with fear. “You’re not leaving?”</p><p>Renfield fought the tears forming in his eyes. The last time Kerri had been held hostage he had failed her completely. He hadn’t had the strength to deal with his problems and hers too. He knew that she was afraid he was going to fail her again.</p><p>He knelt on one knee in front of her, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “This should never happen to anyone once, let alone twice.” He could no longer control his tears. “But I…I promise I won’t let you down this time. I won’t…I promise I will never…”</p><p>Kerri looked into his eyes and knew her fears were unfounded. The love that shone there was all the reassurance she needed.</p><p>“We need to get you cleaned up,” he said, self-consciously wiping his eyes. “I’ll be right back. I’ll be just a minute, okay?”</p><p>It still hurt a little for him to get up, the lingering muscle soreness coming back in force at that moment. He avoided Kerri’s eyes as he moved slowly to stand. Maybe what he was planning would be good for him too.</p><p>Kerri wasn’t sure how long Renfield was gone, but she sat still and waited, knowing beyond any doubt that he would return.</p><p>He came back to her and kneeled at her feet again, this time unfastening the tight straps of her shoes. It was then that he noticed her swollen ankle. He wanted to cry for the pain she must have felt, and for gratitude to the shoes that had virtually saved her life.</p><p>Once he had removed her shoes he rose and held out his hand. Kerri was curious but allowed him to lead her into their bathroom. Once there she saw that Renny had lit her lavender candle and prepared a bubble bath for her.</p><p>“You always tell me how calming your lavender bubble bath is,” he whispered as he unbuttoned her suit jacket. Kerri didn’t object or even resist as he helped her off with the camisole. He unfastened her trousers and helped her to step out of them after they slid to her feet. </p><p>Once she was completely undressed Renfield stepped back and began to remove his shirt.<br/>
Kerri immediately knew what he intended and put her shaky hand on his chest.</p><p>“Renny, you can’t, you’re not well…”</p><p>Renfield hung his head and sighed. “First of all, yes, I can, but that’s not what this is about. Sweetheart,” he looked into her eyes, “this is not about sex, it’s about love. And comfort. Two things I wasn’t…I couldn’t give you before.”</p><p>Renfield finished undressing and stepped into the hot, sweet-smelling water. He hated baths, hot water, bubbles, and the scent of lavender, but at this point there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Kerri.</p><p>Once settled and up to his chin in bubbles, he reached for her. The tub was narrow but deep which forced her to step between his legs and settle down on top of him. At first she felt awkward, but soon the hot water, lavender scent and the closeness to Renny caused her to relax.</p><p>Renfield drew her back against him and was pleased when he felt her trembling begin to subside. He took her bath sponge and gently wiped her arms as he whispered in her ear. “I’ve done many things since we’ve been together that I regret, but I’ve never stopped loving you. From the first moment I laid eyes on you I have loved you. And I know beyond any doubt that as long as we’re together we can survive anything.”</p><p>He continued to whisper words of comfort and love until the water began to turn cool and he knew that Kerri was asleep.</p><p>There were all kinds of love in the world, Renfield knew, but none that was as good or as powerful as the love he felt for this woman, the love they felt for each other. And he thanked God once again that they had found it.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>After they left Renfield and Kerri at their apartment door, Ray and Paige continued on up the stairs. </p><p>Once in the apartment Paige brushed wordlessly by Mrs. Hanson and went directly to Mere’s room.</p><p>After seeing Mrs. Hanson out and thanking her for helping out on such short notice, Ray went to stand in Mere’s doorway. He watched as Paige just sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her sleeping daughter. The only light in the room was the soft glow from the Winnie-the-Pooh nightlight, and Ray marveled once again at how much Mere looked like an angel when she slept.</p><p>Paige sat there, completely still, for a very long time. Finally, just as Ray was about to speak up, Paige sighed and moved away from the little angel. She pulled up the covers and tucked Mere in before she turned and left the room, still not saying a word to Ray.</p><p>Ray felt her unspoken anger. She had been angry ever since he’d helped her up from the floor of the bank, but for the life of him he had no clue why.</p><p>He went to sit next to her on the sofa. “Ya gonna tell me what's eatin’ you?” he asked as he tried to brush an errant strand of hair from her eyes.</p><p>To his surprise she pulled away and began to pace around the room. “Nothing’s wrong! I mean nothing other that I watched Meg bleeding to death, had a gun shoved in my face and thought I might die!”</p><p>“Gee, honey, why’s that makin’ ya mad? The guys are dead, they can’t hurt ya anymore.” He tried to approach her, but she quickly moved out of his path.</p><p>“I’m not mad at them!” she shouted at him. “Not really, I don’t think.” She turned away to hide the tears that she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to control. In a voice he could hardly hear because his ears were still ringing from her shouts, she continued, “I’m mad at myself.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“‘Cause I’m a coward! That’s why!” she whispered, but she was adamant. And then she began to sob.</p><p>Ray was unsuccessful in his second attempt to take her into his arms. “Would ya hold still? How’m I sposed ta comfort you when yer hopping around like a damn rabbit.” He tried to tease her, but it was no use, she didn’t want his comfort.</p><p>“Look,” he said, standing well away from her, “I don't get it. Why do ya think yer a coward?”</p><p>She rounded on him looking for all the world as if she were preparing for battle. “Because I am!” she sobbed. “Meg could’ve died saving that baby, Frannie stood right up to those guys and dared them to shoot her, and Kerri, well we all know about her!”</p><p>“I don’t get it.”</p><p>“I was so scared that all I did was cower in a corner.”</p><p>Ray lunged and was finally was able to get his arms around her. She struggled, but he was able to maintain his hold. He held her as she fought against him. “Listen ta me, dammit!” When she continued to struggle, he shouted, “listen!”</p><p>She finally stopped fighting him and allowed him to hold her tightly against his chest. “It’s ‘bout time! First of all I saw ya on the video and ya were not cowering in a corner. Ya had yer arm around the mother and her kid. You were tryin’ ta comfort her!”</p><p>“I was scared.” Ray could feel her muffled words vibrate against his chest, but he could tell that she had stopped crying. “Everyone else was so brave, and I was just scared.”</p><p>“Ya don’t think that they – we – were scared too? Honey, anybudy that’s got a gun pointed at them’s scared. If they’re not they’re brain dead.” He felt her relax just slightly. </p><p>He continued to hold her tightly against him and felt her sigh. Her breath was warm through his t-shirt and melted his heart with its power. </p><p>“I tried to be like them, Meg and…and the rest. I really did. But all I could think about was Mere. What would happen to her if I got hurt or…killed. She wouldn’t have anyone, I’m her only living relative. She needs me.”</p><p>Ray wanted to cry with pride in Paige. “That’s not bein’ a coward! That ya were able ta think straight amazes me.”</p><p>Apparently she didn’t hear his compliment. “I wanted to get up and help Meg! Frannie could! Why couldn’t I? I felt like I was frozen, paralyzed with fear. Meg was lying there, bleeding to death, and I couldn’t do a thing. Frannie could and Kerri...” Her voice trailed off into nothingness.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>“Come mere.” Ray led Paige to the couch and pulled her down on his lap. “Lookit me.” He tugged on her chin until she had no choice but to look at him. “I’m really proud a you.” The look in his eyes told her he meant it. “You kept yer cool when you were surrounded by armed crazies. You stayed out a the way ‘n protected yerself ‘n three other people. Ya did as ya were told ‘n stayed alive. Ya did exactly the right thing. Thank God.”</p><p>Paige was no longer angry, but maybe still just a little disappointed in herself. She tried so hard to be as good as the rest of them, but to her way of thinking she just could never measure up. Especially to…</p><p>“Yer about a million miles away. What’s up?”</p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>“It’s more than nuthin’.”</p><p>“I just can’t be a good as the rest of them.”</p><p>“Ya mean Meg ‘n Frannie ‘n Kerri?”</p><p>She just nodded her head.</p><p>His heart broke for her. Sometimes she was as insecure as he was. “Honey ya can’t compare yerself ta them. Meg’s a cop and Frannie’s been around the bad guys enough ta know what ta expect. As fer Kerri –”</p><p>“–she's perfect!”</p><p>Ray stared into her eyes and frowned. “Is that what ya think?”</p><p>Paige didn’t stop to think before the words escaped her, “it’s what you think.” As soon as the words left her lips she clamped her hands over her mouth in horror. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean –”</p><p> “–I think ya’d better explain what you do mean,” Ray whispered through a clenched jaw.</p><p>“It’s…it’s just that I’ve seen the way you look at her. I know how you feel about –”</p><p>Ray sighed as he moved her off his lap and stood up. “Felt, okay? Felt about her.” Ray began to pace as Paige began to cry again.</p><p>“I’m sorry! I just know that I can never measure up to her. She beautiful and smart and successful and…and I think I’d hate her if she wasn’t such a wonderful person!”</p><p>“Dammit, Paige!” Ray yelled. “Have I ever, EVER done anythin’ ta make ya think I care about her more then you?”</p><p>Paige stalled by grabbing a tissue from the coffee table and blowing her nose. By the time she spoke again she’d calmed down and was thinking more rationally. She watched him as he fidgeted, waiting for her to reply. “I’m sorry, Ray. I didn’t mean any of that. I’m just upset, and mad at myself for being such a wimp.”</p><p>“Ya gotta understand sumthin’ here. Kerri's my friend ‘n I love her. But I’m IN love with you!”</p><p>Paige went to him and put her arms around his waist. Pulling herself tightly against his chest she waited for him to hug her back. She was very disappointed when his arms remained at his sides.</p><p>She found herself sighing against his chest for the second time in the last several minutes. “I understand,” she whispered. “I’m just not used to having anyone love me. Sometimes I don’t think I’m worth too much, you know?”</p><p>That did it. In a split second Ray’s arms were around her holding tightly. “Yer – you ‘n that short person in the other room – are worth the world ta me! And it scared the shit outta me when…when I thought they might hurt ya.”</p><p>Paige began to cry again. “Dammit,” she whispered. “I can’t seem to stop blubbering.”</p><p>Ray pushed her away and held her at arm’s length while he searched her red, swollen eyes. “Back a ways I cared about Kerri. I thought what I felt was love, but it was nowhere near what I feel for you, ya gotta believe that! I love you and never more than right now.”</p><p>She looked deeply into his eyes, tears and bright red blotches marring her lovely face. “I do, Ray. I know you love me as much as I love you.” His wide, crooked grin caused the tears to begin again. “I’m so sorry about what I said about Kerri. She’s one of the sweetest people I know, and I’m not jealous…most of the time –”</p><p>Ray covered her mouth with one finger, keeping her from continuing. “Stop right there, Lady. Kerri’s great, I used ta think she was the greatest, ‘til I met you. End a discussion.”</p><p>Ray ended their quarrel by replacing his finger with his lips and thanking God that she was safe.<br/>
____________________________________</p><p>The screen door slammed behind them as Ray and Frannie stormed into the house.</p><p>“So what the hell’s yer problem? I’m the one who had a gun stuck in my face! I’m the one who saw her friend shot and watched a guy die!”</p><p>“What’s my problem?” Ray shouted right back. “I’ll tell you what my prob –”</p><p>“Will you two please keep your voices down!” Mrs. Vecchio shouted in a whisper that both of her children knew only too well. “You’ll wake the little ones.” She smiled as she reached for her youngest daughter. “Are you all right, Francesca?”</p><p>Frannie glared at her brother. “Yeah, Ma, I’m fine. Not that my brother here would give a rip.”</p><p>“That’s not true, Francesca. Ray’s your brother, he loves you. You need your rest, come to bed now. It’s late, we’ll talk about all that happened in the morning.”</p><p>“In a minute, Ma. I’ll be up in a minute.”</p><p>Mrs. Vecchio cast Ray a warning look and then left the room.</p><p>“Ma’s right you know,” Ray whispered. “I do love you. I guess that’s why I’m so mad. You really came pretty close to getting your head blown off. Why’d you do that? Standing up to that guy that way? You could have gotten yourself killed!” His voice had risen again and Frannie frowned at him.</p><p>“Yer gonna bring her back down here. Ya know ya don’t wanna do that.” She smiled at him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Thanks for carin’, bro.”</p><p>Ray was about to give her a brotherly hug when they both were surprised by a knock on the screen door.</p><p>“What in hell do you want?” Ray forgot not to raise his voice.</p><p>“Just checkin’ up on Frannie. Ya got her outta there so fast I couldn’t see if she was okay.”</p><p>“She’s fine. Now get lost!” Ray turned and almost mowed Frannie down.</p><p>“Who’s there?”</p><p>“It’s Dewey. I told him to get lost.”</p><p>“Tom?” Frannie did an end run around her brother the tackle. “Flowers? For me? Where in the world did you find roses at this time of night?”</p><p>“I got a friend.”</p><p>“Yeah, right. He probably stole them.”</p><p>Frannie glared at Ray as she let Tom in. “Go ta bed, Ray!”</p><p>To everyone’s surprise Ray did as ordered, with only a small amount of grumbling.</p><p>Tom watched until Ray was out of sight and then turned to Frannie. “I just wanted ta see how yer doin’. What ya did was really brave,” he said as he shoved the roses at her.</p><p>“And stupid, or so Ray says.” She buried her face in the huge bouquet of pink roses, breathing in their delicious fragrance. “I love roses, thanks!”</p><p>“Frannie, helpin’ Thatcher wasn’t stupid, but ya came awful close to gettin’ yerself killed. Ray was just scared, me too.”</p><p>Frannie looked at him over the top of the roses. “You were scared bout me?” she whispered.</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>Suddenly Frannie felt coy, and just a little shy. “Wanna go sit on the front porch? The swing fits two.”</p><p>Ray laid on his bed, on top of the covers, deep in thought. All in all a successful operation, if one could think in terms of success when someone had died, even if those who had died were the bad guys.</p><p>Ray thought of Meg, Kerri, and Paige. He was grateful to God that they were all safe. He’d come to care deeply for all of them since he returned from Las Vegas. And considered himself fortunate to know all of them. As for Frannie, she was as irritating now as she had been when she was twelve, but his mother was right, he loved her. He hadn’t really known how much until he saw that gunman shove the gun in her face. Dear God, he was grateful that she was still alive.</p><p>His thoughts drifted to Kowalski, Fraser and Turnbull. Lucky guys, he thought, to have ladies such as theirs. Kerri was beautiful and intelligent and plumbed the depths of Turnbull that none of the rest of them had any clue existed. And Meg. She brought the kind of smile to Fraser’s face that Ray had always secretly suspected was just lurking somewhere in the background, just waiting for the right person.</p><p>Ray hadn’t known Paige all that long, but he could tell the first time he met her that she would be good for Kowalski. For whatever reason, Kowalski seemed to be a little unsure of himself. Paige seemed to give Kowalski back the confidence that his bitch of an ex-wife always seemed to steal from him.</p><p>Ray could hear the soft lilt of feminine laughter wafting through his open window on the night breeze. And although he couldn’t make them out, not that he wanted to, he could also hear the muffled words that accompanied the laughter. Ray found himself envious, and okay, a little jealous.</p><p>He found himself smiling. He had been instrumental in protecting the lives of four beautiful women, a couple of kids and several others. And he had seen the girls safely back into the arms of the men who loved them. </p><p>Ray looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was no longer Friday. It was the beginning of a new day, the horror of the past few hours behind them. Thank God.</p><p>He fell asleep feeling more contented than he’d been in a very long time but lonelier than he’d ever been in his life.</p><p>The End</p>
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